OIL NEWS * Canada - Fuel prices, cast anxiety over truckers

Halton,ONT,CAN -The Spec, by Danielle Wong -Feb 24, 2011:  ...   Alarming gas price increases are making drivers, business owners and civic leaders nervous as various pockets of Hamilton are taking the hit...  Shawn Kemp, the vice-president of operations for local delivery business PACEX Transportation Solutions, agreed Ottawa needed to step in and take the Canadian oil business off the world market...  The struggling trucking industry has only begun a slow climb towards recovery over the past two years, Kemp said, but the jump in fuel prices has him and other employees worried. “My concern is … it’s going to put us back in recession again,” he said. “It’s going to slow down business. As fuel prices go up, shipping volume goes down” ...  The immediate plan for their company is to transfer increased fuel prices to clients, until they refuse to absorb any more, at which point the company will have to take on the costs and see a drop in their profit margin, Kemp said...   Although Libya is a small player in the oil market, holding 5 per cent of the world’s proven reserves, it cannot be dismissed because the market is very thin, said McMaster University economics professor Atif Kubursi...

* USA - Open access to domestic energy sources, ATA tells Obama

Arlington,VA,USA -The Trucker News Services -25 Feb 2011:  --  With world events showing the importance of energy independence, the American Trucking Associations called on the Obama administration to stop blocking access to U.S.-held energy assets...  “The trucking industry requires more than 34 billion gallons of diesel fuel to deliver essential commodities like food, medicine, clothing and fuel,” ATA Vice President and Regulatory Affairs Counsel Rich Moskowitz said Feb. 24. “Despite advances in alternative energy, the trucking industry will continue to depend on traditional diesel fuel for the foreseeable future”  ...  Moskowitz said, “Rising fuel prices hurt truckers twice - first by increasing their operating costs and then by reducing freight volumes as consumers spend more on energy and are forced to reduce their spending on other consumer goods” ... In 2010, the trucking industry spent an estimated $101.5 billion on diesel fuel – a 28 percent increase over the previous year. Before the current spike in crude oil prices, ATA estimated that in 2011 carriers will spend roughly $20 billion more at the pump than they did last year...

* USA - Tapping Alaska

Charlotte,NC,USA -Portfolio -Feb 25 2011: -- Gasoline prices already were high for this time of year, but the disruption of Libyan oil exports has caused the average price of regular gasoline in the U.S. to jump nearly 12 cents in the past three days, to $3.29 a gallon... That’s according to AAA’s daily survey of prices at the pump... As the weather warms and Americans drive more, that price could creep up to $4 a gallon, or beyond, depending on what happens to world oil supplies... These higher gasoline prices will squeeze both consumers, who will have less money to buy other goods and services, and businesses, who will try to pass along their additional transportation costs to their customers. That’s not what a still-recovering economy needs... The oil shocks of the past week have prompted many business groups to call for increased oil production in the U.S... Yesterday, the Energy Security Leadership Council, a group co-chaired by FedEx chairman and CEO Fred Smith, renewed its call for increased domestic oil production. Dependence on foreign sources of petroleum poses both an economic risk and a national security risk to the country, the council maintains... Said Emilie Siurrusco, the Alaska Wilderness League's communications director, "... plus, increasing domestic production of oil might not lead to lower gasoline prices, she said. Oil produced in the U.S. goes into the world oil market, and Saudi Arabia could ramp down its production as we ramp up ours in order to keep prices high..." (Photo from The Trucker, by BARB KAMPBELL)

* USA - Truck Drivers Pain At the Pump Also Hurts Your Wallet

(Video: Gas Prices Soar For Truckers on the Road - Pulling up to a gas station seems to be getting more expensive by the minute. But the ones who are affected the most are those with the biggest rigs on the road)

Spartanburg,NC,USA -News Channel 9, by Christine Scarpelli -February 27, 2011: -- Pulling up to a gas station seems to be getting more expensive by the minute. The national average gas price Is $3.35 a gallon. That's up 2 cents from last night and nearly 20 cents from last week. In South Carolina gas averages $3.23 per gallon. That's the ninth cheapest in the U.S. and in North Carolina the average gas price is closer to the national average at $3.33 a gallon... But the ones who are affected the most are those with the biggest rigs on the road. Diesel prices have jumped up just as much as regular fuel and the trucking industry is feeling the pinch as well... Drivers we talked to said they've seen prices skyrocket and it's getting expensive for everyone involved...  They say their companies are taking drastic measures to keep their wheels spinning... One driver said his company limits where they can go and even restricts the speedometer on their trucks so they can't drive faster than 60 miles per hour and in some cases it’s even affecting drivers pay...  The drivers we talked to say South Carolina is on the lower end when it comes to fuel prices but economists say they expect things to get worse in the next few months...

* UK - RHA warns on spiralling fuel prices

London,UK -HGV UK -February 28, 2011: -- UK motorists have a problem with fuel prices – but the problem is many times greater for transport firms, warns the Road Haulage Association (RHA)... The cost of running a typical 44-tonne lorry has risen by £410 a year in just one week, the RHA says. Diesel price hikes over the past four weeks totalling 2.41 pence mean that haulage firms typically have to raise their charges £1,000 a year, just to cover their increased fuel costs. The exact amount could be much higher, depending on the type of work the truck is doing... The figures are based on the RHA’s Weekly Fuel Price Survey, which shows what haulage firms are actually paying for their fuel excluding VAT. The bulk price released today was 110.46 pence per litre (exc VAT), up 0.98 pence on one week ago. Clearly, there are worries that prices are going to rise even further...

TRUCKING COSTS * USA - LA Harbor Commission Closes Clean-Truck Loopholes

Port bans tricks by some motor carriers that circumvent regulations

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Dec 16, 2010: -- The Los Angeles Harbor Commission Thursday voted to prohibit two practices some motor carriers deploy to circumvent the port's clean-truck regulations... Class 7 trucks will now be governed by the same clean-air rules that apply to the larger Class 8 trucks... Also, the commission modified its tariff so that switching containers from compliant trucks to banned trucks is banned anywhere in the harbor district. This practice is known as dray-off... The California Air Resources Board, whose regulations apply throughout the state, is scheduled on Dec. 16 to consider amending its Drayage Truck Rule to include regulation of Class 7 trucks and to address the dray-off issue... (Photo from wantai.net: Class 7 Fuso truck)


* California - Truckers say L.A.'s 'green' port costs them money. The dispute over who should pay for leasing and maintaining 'clean' rigs could go to the Supreme Court

Los Angeles,CAL,USA - The Los Angeles Times, by Patrick J. McDonnell -December 7, 2010: -- Alex Mejia said he often sleeps in his truck, grabbing some fitful rest before a new dawn breaks and he is once again hauling cargo at the Port of Los Angeles. The routine marks another working day that, he says, could last 18 hours, much of it spent waiting — for a job order, a load, an operational trailer chassis — before getting back on the road... He is among about 10,000 drivers who provide a lifeline at the nation's busiest port complex, hauling containers from the seaport to far-flung warehouses and distribution centers for clients ranging from small firms to giants such as Wal-Mart, Costco and Rite Aid. Many say they have long endured extended hours, high stress and relatively low pay, even in the days when business boomed with galloping multibillion-dollar commerce with Asia... Life was supposed to get better for them with the coming of the city's much-ballyhooed Clean Truck Program, which is widely credited with helping to upgrade air quality... The concept — to replace smog-spawning clunkers with newer and cleaner rigs — promised to slash emissions and offer a new deal for beleaguered port truckers, many of them immigrants from Mexico and Central America... "Things were ba enough when we owned our trucks, but I would say the situation is desperate now," said Mejia, who ditched his 1995 Freightliner and now leases a "clean" 2008 International. "We're all happy that the air is cleaner. We live here too. But it is our sweat, our work, that is helping to improve the environment" ... "This program has been a great deception to us," said Jose Mauricio Guzman, 54, who has more than 20 years of port trucking experience. "We no longer have hope to be in the middle class. We are all poor now"...