Diesel Fuel is Getting Costly Just As Gas Prices Fall for Cars
Posted on: Tuesday, 15 November 2005, 00:00 CST
By Will Buss, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.
Nov. 15--Free-falling gasoline prices have surpassed the traditionally lower diesel fuel costs, forcing trucking companies to pass the buck.
While gas prices continue to fall closer to $2 per gallon, diesel costs are still hovering just below $3.
"It's a problem," said Jerry Todd, who owns and operates Great American Lines in Pontoon Beach. "What we're doing is passing fuel surcharge costs to shippers, and we'll eventually have to pass that on to consumers. We're getting 20 to 40 percent surcharges."
Sam Beelman, who runs Beelman trucking in East St. Louis, agreed.
"We are passing those costs down as fuel charges," Beelman said. "We just adjust accordingly whether it's up or down."
American Automobile Association-St. Louis spokesman Mike Right said diesel fuel prices are falling, too, in some places, despite the near $1 disparity in cost. On Monday, AAA noted the metro-east area's average costs for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.12, while the average per gallon of diesel fuel was $2.98.
Right said gas costs plunged below diesel prices some time ago, and recent federal standards requiring sulfur reductions in diesel fuel also has contributed to the higher costs.
"It's a fairly new standard," he said. "We have ratcheted it up over the years."
Right said these conditions will continue unless production increases and inventories improve.
Todd said lofty diesel fuel prices have persisted over the past six months.
"I don't know where all of this will end," he said. "It's not pleasant for trucking companies."
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Source: Belleville News-Democrat (Belleville, Ill.)
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