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Apr 19, 2015

FUEL COSTS * USA: Truckers sue to end biodiesel mandate - * Gas Technology: NGV trucking

* Minnesota - 10 percent blend has hurt trucking firms, carmakers and the oil industry
-- Minnesota truckers and other interests sued Minnesota on Friday seeking to end the state’s requirement that diesel sold at the pump contain 10 percent biodiesel... The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota alleges that the state mandate is in conflict with federal clean air and renewable fuels laws. The suit asks for a permanent injunction barring enforcement of the existing mandate and any future expansion of a higher biodiesel ratio... In court papers, the 690-member Minnesota Trucking Association alleged that the mandate drives up the price of diesel fuel and forces trucking companies to ignore truck engine warranties that specify using no more than B-5, or 5 percent ­biodiesel... Last July, the state blending ratio increased from 5 percent to 10 percent for part of the year, and eventually could rise to 20 percent. It remains at B-5 from October to March to reduce the risk of fuel thickening into jelly during cold months... Joining the trucker group in the suit are the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, American Petroleum Institute, and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers. Auto dealers and makers contend they lose sales and loyal customers and incur higher warranty costs because of the mandate, while petroleum companies say they face additional costs to distribute B-10 in Minnesota... 
(Photo: GLEN STUBBE • Star Tribune -One trucker said the mandate added 3 cents a gallon to diesel prices)  --  St. Paul, MINN, USA - The Star Tribune, by DAVID SHAFFER - April 17, 2015


* DC -   NGV trucking: More fueling points, new vehicles.
  -- Rapid refueling, whether LNG or CNG is a requirement for a successful OTR natural gas site. More of these facilities are being installed across the U.S.A. and Canada. Many offer a choice between CNG and LNG. It has long been recognized that over-the-road (OTR) trucking represents a major opportunity to replace petroleum fuels with natural gas... CNG is usually compressed at the delivery site from pipeline-delivered natural gas, while LNG is more commonly delivered by tanker to the refueling point. Delivered cost of either natural gas fuel is typically one-half to two-thirds the price of the equivalent gallons of diesel fuel. Fuel costs are generally cited as gallons-of-diesel-equivalent (GDE). Because it need to be trucked to the dispensing site, and because of the energy cost of the liquefaction process, LNG is typically somewhat more expensive than CNG. Estimates of the cost differential range from 25 cents to as much as 75 cents GDE... Payback for the higher cost of a natural gas tractor can range from one to three years, depending on local fuel costs and miles driven. If, as Lindholm projects, natural gas vehicle costs continue to decline proportionate to diesel vehicles, the paybacks could be even shorter. Currently the price of diesel fuel is somewhat depressed because of lower crude oil prices. How long this will continue is debatable. Judd Cook from Questar Fueling indicates that the fuel price differential is a major driver in the decision to switch to natural gas, and some truckers are watching trends. At the current time, he feels the typical paybacks are 18 to 24 months, which is enough to continue to stimulate interest... 
(Image Courtesy U.S. Department of Energy: Fast fill popup truck slider)  --  Washington, DC, USA - Plant Engineering - 17 April 2015


* Opportunities in a lower fuel price environment

-- Analysts at business management consulting firm Strategy (formerly Booz &  Co.), suggested that fleets take the opportunity to adjust their networks to focus more on speed of delivery in cases where there's been some trade-off for fuel costs, and go after some business that's currently moving on rail... In a report on "The Impact of Reduced Oil Prices on the Transportation Sector," Andrew Tipping, Andrew Schmahl and Fred Duiven point out that assuming 5 to 7 mpg and an oil price of $60 to $80 per barrel, the line-haul cost per container mile is $1.82 for trucks versus $0.37 for rail, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. "Lower oil prices, however, will narrow that relative price gap" ... Since reduced fuel costs allow trucking to be more competitive compared with rail, they suggest trucking companies look to recapture customers they may have previously lost when oil prices were higher. In fact, they say, it's already been happening... 
 (Photo: A worldwide glut of oil is driving down gas prices at the pump)  --  TruckingInfo,by Deborah Lockridge - April 17, 2015

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Jun 1, 2008

FUEL COST SOLUTIONS * Canada - Slowing down again won’t help truckers

Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada -The Nova Scotia Business Journal, by ANDREW ROBINSON -28 May 2008: -- With diesel prices on the rise, the trucking industry is finding ways to reduce fuel consumption. But according to the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association, a suggestion of lowering the highway speed limit in Nova Scotia from 100 kilometres per hour to 90 km/h is an unnecessary move... Lowering speeds on our highways is an idea that the trucking industry has already bought into, says Peter Nelson, executive director of the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association (APTA). Over the last three years, he says APTA members have been encouraged to drive no faster than 100 to 103 km/h. Aside from reducing fuel consumption, driving at this speed makes the job safer for truckers... Over the course of a year, Nelson says driving at the association’s suggested speed instead of cruising at 118 to 120 km/h can shave $15,000 off the cost of fuelling a single truck. But Nelson says that in a province where almost all freight on land is moved by trucks and where suppliers depend on timely shipments, further speed restrictions are not the answer... Instead, Nelson says his industry is looking to innovative technologies as a way for truckers to reduce their fuel consumption. He points to a Michelin tire factory in Waterville, where wide-based tires are being produced to replace dual tires. Nelson says they can reduce fuel consumption by two to four per cent... The government is currently developing a road safety strategy, and Scott says he will ask the committee overseeing the strategy to look into the idea of changing the speed limit...


* UK - Authorizes two new North Sea oil fields in effort to curb rising

London,UK -The International Herald Tribune (Paris,France)/Associated Press -May 28, 2008: -- Britain on Wednesday granted licenses for two new North Sea oil fields in an attempt to encourage major oil producers to help stabilize the world's energy markets... The decision was announced after talks in Aberdeen, Scotland, between Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Treasury chief Alistair Darling and members of Oil & Gas U.K., a trade body for companies operating in the North Sea... The two new fields have an estimated total output of 50 million barrels and additional daily production in the existing fields could produce up to 20,000 extra barrels per day, Hutton's ministry said... Brown and Darling were holding talks in Scotland following protests on Tuesday by truckers in London and Wales... Hundreds of trucks blocked off a highway in London to demonstrate the soaring cost of fuel in Britain — where diesel now costs more than 1.20 pounds per liter (€1.50 per liter, more than US$9 a gallon)... A delegation of drivers handed a letter to Brown's Downing Street office calling for a cut in fuel taxes for trucking companies... Some lawmakers have called on the leader to review plans to levy higher taxes on so-called "gas-guzzling" vehicles from next year...

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May 28, 2008

FUEL COST, ONE SOLUTION * USA - Bill advances to close loophole blamed for energy speculation

The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly overrode President Bush’s veto of the Farm Bill last week, voting 82-13 to approve the bill that also aims to close a legal loophole championed by Enron, which allows energy commodities to inflate gas and diesel prices

Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Charlie Morasch -May 27, 2008: -- Any closing of the “Enron” loophole could have a profound effect on trucking. Energy industry insiders have estimated as much as a third of the per-barrel cost of crude oil is driven by investment speculation... The bill would close a loophole in market trading regs that currently allows for “over-the-counter” trading of energy futures – essentially allowing investors to gamble and reap large rewards on the escalation of oil prices... Hedge fund manager Michael Masters reportedly told a U.S. Senate committee last week that oil prices are being driven almost as much by speculators as they are by Chinese demand. According to Financial Post, annual Chinese petroleum demands increased 920 million barrels in the past five years, while demand driven by speculation tallied 848 million barrels... The Farm Bill isn’t likely to be the last legislation aimed at reforming energy trade... A statement from Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, said the proposed act would: protect consumers from price gouging during an official “energy emergency;” would prevent traders of U.S. crude oil from routing transactions through off-shore markets without speculative limits; would allow the U.S. to enforce penalties against countries or companies colluding to set oil prices; and would roll back $17 billion in tax breaks for oil and gas companies...

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May 23, 2008

FUEL COST DEBATES * USA - House vote targets OPEC

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to let the Justice Department pursue antitrust and price-fixing cases against OPEC members, including Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Iran


Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine -May 22, 2008: -- ... The bill passed by a 324-to-84 margin. Even if the Senate approves, President Bush is expected to veto the measure... A White House press release stated that the measure would discourage investment in the U.S. economy and possibly drive fuel prices higher... However, Rep. Steve Kagen, D-WI, who sponsored the bill, said it’s time to stand up to an oil cartel that openly manipulates production to influence prices... The United States imports nearly 6 million barrels of crude oil per day from Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries. American consumers remain at the mercy of OPEC nations in how much they pay to fill up their tanks, Kagen said...


* Michigan Republicans offer sales tax holiday on fuel purchases

Mich,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Keith Goble -May 22, 2008: -- Michigan is one of only nine states that collect a general sales tax on fuel purchases. With prices at the pump inching closer to the $5 per gallon mark in the state, Republicans at the statehouse say they have a plan to help consumers... Two House Republicans unveiled an initiative to temporarily eliminate the 6 percent sales tax on fuel. The state’s fuel excise tax would not be affected... A suspension of the sales tax would cost the state as much as $300 million through Labor Day. How a tax break or suspension would affect the status of the International Fuel Tax Agreement in Michigan is uncertain...

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May 20, 2008

FUEL COSTS * USA - A Fueling Alternative

Retail fuel prices skyrocketed again last week, with diesel jumping 18.2 cents a gallon to a national average of $4.331, the biggest one-week increase since October 2005 and more than 15 cents more than the last record

USA -Transport Topics: Editorial -May 19, 2008: -- ... Gasoline jumped 10.9 cents a gallon to an average of $3.722, the seventh consecutive record high price, as measured by the Department of Energy’s weekly survey of filling stations... Fleets spent about $1.1 billion more for diesel than they did in the corresponding week of 2007. To put that in perspective, $1.1 billion would have been enough to cover the industry’s entire diesel bill for the corresponding week of 2000, when the average was $1.40 a gallon... So it was an interesting week for UPS Inc. to announce a major investment in alternative-fueled vehicles, with plans to buy 200 hybrid-electric delivery vans and 300 compressed natural gas vans... The hybrids alone — expected to be as much as 40% more efficient than the traditional package cars they replace when they are delivered in 2009 — are expected to save UPS 176,000 gallons of fuel a year. Also, they will reduce carbon emissions by 1,786 metric tons a year, UPS said, or the equivalent of removing 100 conventional delivery vans from the road... One interesting aspect of these vans, according to Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp., which will build the vehicles (but not the power systems), is that the hybrids don’t need to be plugged in at night to charge their batteries. The batteries store power capture generated as the vehicle brakes... The hybrids will couple an Eaton Corp. electric system with a Cummins Corp. ISB diesel engine, on a chassis rated up to 29,000 pounds. UPS deployed 50 hybrid electrics in 2007... The CNG vans, powered by Cummins, are an addition to 800 such vehicles already in operation for UPS, also rated at 29,000 pounds... At the very least, this development shows that a significant player in the fleet industry has found these alternative-energy vehicles to be reliable and productive enough to be worth a major commitment. It also is a concrete step toward doing what a lot of companies would like to do: reduce dependence on volatile oil...(Photo by Chris Van Houten/Trans Pixs)

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May 19, 2008

HIGHER FUEL COSTS * USA - Keep on truckin'? Long haulers yield to diesel prices

Their massive vehicles' low mpg weighs down the bottom line, spurring cultural and technological shifts

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -Los Angeles Times, by Ken Bensinger -May 17, 2008: -- ... Because of short supply (P.N.: See entry 17 May, below), the price of diesel has gone up more than twice as much as gasoline in the last year, reaching a U.S. all-time high this week of an average of $4.33 a gallon. With little hope of a near-term decline -- oil futures rose $2.17 to settle at a record $126.29 a barrel Friday -- the run-up is causing panic and prompting radical cultural and technological shifts in the struggling trucking industry... Instead of obsessing over chrome trim or the latest cab amenities to ease life on the road, truck owners and operators who are fed up with getting 5 miles per gallon are delving into long-ignored subjects such as aerodynamics, cruising speeds and tire efficiency... Engineers and manufacturers are furiously developing fuel-friendly technology. And commercial fleets are using high-tech software to calculate every aspect of their drivers' routes, down to where they should fill up and where they should stop for the night... But with U.S. trucks burning upward of 20 billion gallons of diesel a year and trucking industry bankruptcies soaring, shifting to more efficient vehicles can be a matter of business survival... (Photo: Driver Bill Rethwisch, 34, with his rig at a truck stop in Ontario. Rethwisch, who operates out of Tomah, Wis., bought his 2008 Kenworth T660 semi-tractor because it has such aerodynamics features as a slopped hood and no exhaust stacks. The reduced drag helps to make the rig more fuel-efficient)


* High diesel prices push truckers off the road

Rocky Mount,NC,USA -The Rocky Mount Telegram, by Eric Klamut -May 18, 2008: -- You can hear the frustration in Charlene Garris' voice... A native of Fayetteville who has been driving big rigs on and off for 20 years, Garris doesn't know what the future holds for her and John Mzyick – her boyfriend, who is also a truck driver... But for now, Garris has other things on her mind. Namely the skyrocketing price of diesel fuel. She and Mzyick, of Andrews, S.C., work as a team... With the price of diesel fuel rising to more than $4 per gallon, trucking firms and drivers are feeling the brunt of the fuel spike full force... "It shouldn't have to be like this," Garris said. "We just try to make it the best we can and go on."... Hauling freight for Southern Refrigerated Transport, a Texas and Illinois motor transport company, Mzyick, who has been driving commercial rigs for 11 years said that nowadays, it takes anywhere from $600 to $700 to fill both of his fuel tanks. He estimated he pumps about $3,000 into the rig on a weekly basis... "Look at your grocery prices," Garris said. "Everything's blown out of proportion. ... It's going to get so bad that (trucking) companies are going to go out of business."... And that has been the case for many trucking firms...


* High fuel costs forcing truckers out of business

Dayton,OH,USA -The Dayton Daily News, by Kristin McAllister -May 18, 2008: -- ... For Jet Express Inc., driver and Kettering resident, Clay Elam, 56, who owns his own semi, each day starts with the question: Is today the day I bail out? ... "I'm somewhat optimistic, " Elam said. "It just seems very difficult, though, to hold on to optimism, but you hang on to hope. It's a starving industry."... Elam said the rising fuel costs are taking away two thirds of everything he makes... "In the good old days, you'd get back half of what you've spent, but each day that passes, it gets more and more expensive," he said. "You know, I bought my truck for $120,000 and pay about $75,000 each year in maintenance and fuel."... Elam said he and his family have had to make several changes in family spending because of the impact of high fuel costs... "Fuel costs are killing us. We're all in struggling mode, and only the strong will survive," he said. "It comes down to, what comes first? Maintaining your truck, versus losing your house."...

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May 14, 2008

FUEL COST, ONE SOLUTION * USA - Congress moving toward oil reserve moratorium

Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Reed Black -May 13, 2008: -- In a January letter to President Bush, OOIDA President and CEO Jim Johnston proposed a temporary moratorium on putting more oil into the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve... The reserve is nearly full now and Johnston said the practice increases fuel prices and reduces the oil available for production of diesel and gas... That proposal may become a reality – but not because the White House agreed to it. In fact, President Bush has threatened to veto any legislation that would impose a moratorium.
According to Congressional Quarterly, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Monday, May 12, that President Bush still opposes the move and in fact wants to expand the size of the reserve... However, according to OOIDA’s Washington, DC, staff, Congress was expected to vote as early as today in favor of a moratorium and may have the votes to override a veto...


* More fuel surcharge legislation introduced

Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine -May 13, 2008: -- Another bill seeking to mandate that 100 percent of fuel surcharges collected on loads be passed through to the person buying the fuel has been introduced in Congress... The bill seeks to mandate that any middleman who either provides or arranges the movement of a load but doesn’t actually pay for the fuel it uses, pass 100 percent of any fuel surcharge collected on to the trucker or motor carrier who pays for the fuel... Rep. John Barrow, D-GA, introduced ’s legislation seeks to mandate penalties for those middlemen who do not pass along surcharges. The bill seeks to mandate penalties up to three times the amount of damages which would be paid to the U.S. government. Additional penalties equal to three times the damages plus attorneys fees would be payable to the trucker or motor carrier denied the surcharge...

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