FUEL COST CRISIS * USA & Canada - High fuel prices, sluggish economy ease trucker shortage

As the cost of diesel fuel soars and the economy slows, hundreds of small to mid-sized trucking outfits are folding — leaving legions of trained drivers looking for work

Albany,NY,USA -AP, by RICHARD RICHTMYER -12 June 2008: -- Bob Lingyak's job is a lot easier these days... As head of recruiting at trucking company Gypsum Express, for years Lingyak had to take what he could get when it came to long-haul drivers amid a shortage of workers qualified to handle the big rigs and willing to spend weeks on the road... But as the cost of diesel fuel soars and the economy slows, hundreds of small to mid-sized trucking outfits are folding — leaving legions of trained drivers looking for work... Trucking companies have long lamented what they say has been a chronic shortage of long-haul — or over-the-road — drivers. A 2005 analysis by Global Insight estimated that by 2014 the industry will fall about 111,000 drivers short of the 1.7 million expected to be needed to keep the nation's long-haul freight moving... Analysts blame an aging driver work force and difficulty attracting people to take on a job that requires them to be away from home for long stretches. The core demographic group that provides more than half of big-rig drivers — middle-aged white men — also is shrinking, compounding the problem over the long term... But in the short term, the labor crunch appears to have eased... Soaring diesel prices — which nationally are averaging $4.69 a gallon compared with $2.79 last year — and increased price competition among trucking companies are running thousands of the nation's 18-wheelers off the road... Despite the recent rise in the number of available drivers, the trucking industry is still facing a long-term challenge when it comes to keeping qualified drivers behind the wheels of big rigs, said Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations... There are always going to be ebbs and flows, but the underlying trends that have caused the labor crunch in recent years are unchanged, he said... "The demographics are still working against us, and when freight volumes pick up (the problem) is going to come back with a vengeance," he said... (AP Photos, by Mike Groll: 1· Trucks are parked at Scotty's Restaurant in Gansevoort, N.Y., Thursday, June 5, 2008. As the cost of diesel fuel soars and the economy slows, hundreds of small to mid-sized trucking outfits are folding, leaving legions of trained drivers looking for work. - 2· Trucks are parked at Scotty's Restaurant in Gansevoort, N.Y., Thursday, June 5, 2008. As the cost of diesel fuel soars and the economy slows, hundreds of small to mid-sized trucking outfits are folding, leaving legions of trained drivers looking for work)


* Canada - Trucking companies risk closing if government doesn't take action, teamsters say

Montreal,QBC,CAN -The Gazette -June 12, 2008: -- Dozens of Canadian trucking companies risk closing, if the federal government doesn't create a national rebate program to mitigate the soaring price of fuel, Teamsters Canada warned today... The union, which represents thousands of Canadian truckers, today called on the government to use budget surpluses to assist the transport industry. The practice already exists provincially; the Quebec government gives independent drivers protection against rising gas and fuel costs, the Teamsters said... According to transportation experts across the country, the prices of gas and fuel-which has surpassed the $1.50 per litre mark in several regions of the country, imposes a perilous cost on trucking companies, brokers and owner-operators, the Teamsters said...


* Double whammy KOs local trucking firm - First mill layoffs and then fuel prices prompt Jerry Sheets to park his rigs

John Day,Blue Mountain Eagle,Grant County,OR,USA -My Eagle News, by Angel Carpenter -12 June 2008: -- Only two of 11 big rigs remain at Jerry Sheets' truck shop. He's selling them off after closing down his trucking business April 30... Sheets who started a trucking business 28 years ago, had been hauling wood chips for Prairie Wood Products since 1995. After a three-month-long layoff last year, he said he made up his mind to shut down if he was laid off for another long period of time... When the news came of an April-through- June layoff, the decision was made... While the dwindling logging industry has been a major concern for Sheets and others like him, this year's soaring cost of fuel has brought yet another setback for truckers nationwide... The American Trucking Associations called on congress last month to address the difficulties facing the trucking industry caused by escalating fuel prices, citing data compiled by longtime trucking analyst Donald Braughton. Broughton's report revealed that 935 trucking companies with at least five trucks (and an average of 45 trucks) failed in the first quarter of 2008... This is nearly 50 percent more than in the fourth quarter of 2007, representing the highest level since the third quarter of 2001, according to Braughton... Sheets said the price of fuel definitely affected his decision to shut down... (Photo by Angel Carpenter/The Eagle: Layoffs and rising fuel prices were the last straw for Jerry Sheets, who decided this spring to close up his Canyon City trucking business and retire)


* USA - Trucking firms reeling under gas pressures

Chillicothe,OH,USA -The Lancaster Eagle Gazette (Lancaster,OH), by ASHLEY PHILLIPS -June 12, 2008: -- ... While recreational and business drivers reel under gas prices hovering around $4 per gallon with the promise of higher costs later this summer, local and national truck companies are trying to find ways to deal with diesel prices that have soared even higher and raised the cost of shipping goods... Lance Weaver of Coshocton has been a trucker for more than a decade. "It's a pretty good way to make money," said Weaver, 30, an owner-operator for Ace Doran Hauling & Rigging Co. in Northside. "You have your independence, and you've always got a change of scenery."... Lately, that independence is a lot more expensive as diesel fuel prices, driven by rising crude oil prices and growing worldwide diesel demand, have soared nearly more than 70 percent in the last year, outpacing even the sharp run-up in gasoline prices... Freight volumes are down with the slowing economy, but that's more than offset by rising fuel prices that are forcing some trucking companies out of business and some independent truckers to park their rigs. The only upshot is "nobody's winning," said Kerry Byrne, executive vice president of Total Quality Logistics... In the first quarter of this year about 935 trucking companies filed for bankruptcy, the highest level since 2000-2001, according to Donald Broughton, trucking analyst with St. Louis-based Avondale Partners...


* Canada - Thieves hit truck tanks as diesel fuel prices rise

Victoria,Vancouver,CAN -The Globe and Mail, by SHANNON MONEO -June 12, 2008: -- Big tanks on big trucks are being targeted by thieves as the price of diesel fuel soars to almost $1.50 a litre in the Vancouver area... "Diesel is becoming more valuable than copper," said Don McGill, secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local 213, referring to the market for stolen copper. "We're starting to hear more and more of tanks being siphoned."... About 6,000 of the local's 10,000 members are truck drivers. Some have reported that thieves watch for them to leave their vehicles and then strike, Mr. McGill said from the local's Vancouver head office... "It's becoming a major concern."... Recently, two of Lloyd Davies's dozen gravel trucks in Mission were hit by diesel dippers...