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Truckers Protesting Gas Prices Plan to Return to Port Wednesday

Posted on: Tuesday, 1 April 2008, 18:00 CDT

About 55 independent truckers, who move goods into and out of the Port of Tampa, will return Wednesday morning to continue their protest of the high cost of fuel and other expenses.

The truckers parked their tractor-trailers in a restaurant parking lot across from the entrance to the port just after midnight today to attract the attention of the public about their plight.

"Once the press arrived to get our story, we agreed to leave," said said David Santiago, a Tampa trucker and spokesman for the drivers, "But we'll be back at 8 a.m. (Wednesday)."

Santiago said there was no need to continue hanging around the parking lot, since "the freight isn't moving if we're there or at home."

The independent truckers, who are saying that high operating expenses have made it difficult for them to make a living, were refusing to haul goods from the port.

The truckers had a brief meeting at noon in the parking lot among the massive hulks of their rigs after a day of talking with the media and among themselves, before starting their engines and leaving for the day.

Around midnight, the truckers began the protest by parking in the parking lot of Coco's Latin Cafe on 22nd Street. The truckers had refused to enter the port and their rigs sat idle.

"We are protesting locally because fuel prices are too high," Santiago said. "We are not making any money."

He said the freight contractors set the refund rate for fuel and when the prices rise the truckers cannot pay their other expenses, such as port entry fees, government license fees and insurance bills.

"Some are still paying on their trucks," Santiago said.

The truckers are going to stay parked in front of the port for as long as it takes to get the freight companies that operate out of the port to talk with the them, Santiago said.

Only one Tampa Police officer was parked at the scene. Traffic was flowing normally near the Port of Tampa.

Andrew Fobes, a spokesman for the Port of Tampa, read a prepared statement over the phone when contacted.

"The Tampa Port Authority is aware of the temporary action by a contingent of independent truckers to protest the rising cost of diesel fuel and other related costs that have impacted their operations out of and into various seaports, including the Port of Tampa," Fobes read.

He said the protest had no impact on the operation of the port.

"The Tampa Port Authority will continue to monitor the situation and hopes for an expedient resolution to these issues," the statement read.

The independent drivers demanded that contractors pay them more to cover their fuel and other costs.

"We can no longer haul their stuff for what they're paying," said Santiago.

He said he and many of the other truckers cannot support their families on what they make.

"If it wasn't for my wife, we would have been bankrupt already," said the 35 year old who has been trucking for the past 17 years.

Although various national independent trucker Web sites heralded the protest, there was no impact on Manatee County streets and no protests at Port Manatee.

"We got wind of it yesterday," said Lt. Doug Dodson, spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol in Manatee County, early Tuesday, "but we haven't heard of anything happening yet today."

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To see more of The Bradenton Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bradenton.com.

Source: The Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, Fla.)

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