High fuel prices and shortages hit trucking industry, as nation critically needs gasoline and goods

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Lee Klass is a long-haul trucker who has spent most of the past 50 years working behind the wheel.

The cost of doing his job spiked dramatically this week.

Klass, 73, drives a Freightliner. He’s not hauling gasoline, but he’s feeling the pinch of fuel shortages and higher prices in the wake of the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack. He’s paying $3.60 a gallon, far more than the $2.50 to $3 a gallon he paid during much of the pandemic.

“I start to freak out when it hits $4 a gallon, and I’m paying almost $1,000 to fill up a 240-gallon tank,” said Klass who was in Rhode Island on Wednesday and drives long hours daily. “For me to run across country in my truck, it takes about three fill-ups from the west coast to east coast, and that is a lot of money,” he added.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/high-fuel-prices-and-shortages-hit-trucking-industry-as-nation-critically-needs-gasoline-and-goods-transported/ar-BB1gLeWe

[underpants]

1. How long does that take, filling up 240 gallons?

Apparently 10-15 minutes.

[VarryOn]

2. Ask Mr Klass if he knows what a fuel surcharge is?

Transportations dirty little secret. It has margin in it, if it’s done right. It’s why carriers often do better with high fuel prices than with average. In my 30-year career, I’ve been in many a meeting where it was said, “when need a fuel spike?”

Anybody who purchases freight transportation know about fuel surcharges. Shippers trade lower line haul rates in exchange for higher fuel charges, betting fuel prices stay low.