Truckers hurt by diesel hikes Industry facing serious crisis

LEWISTON – Filling the tank of one of Ed Chapman’s long-haul trucks cost $370 a year ago. Now it costs $550.

All told, the spike in gas prices will cost Chapman Trucking, which employs 35 drivers who haul freight for local businesses, about $30,000 more this month than in March 2002.

“It’s scary,” said Chapman, who can’t recall prices increasing so much in such a short period of time.

Hundreds of transport companies and independent truckers in Maine are reeling from a sustained hike in diesel prices. Also slammed by rising insurance costs, the industry faces its most serious crisis in years, experts say.

Some independents and small operations have shut down. Others are cutting costs and riding it out, hoping for relief.

The average diesel price Wednesday was $1.98 per gallon in the Twin Cities, compared to $1.30 a year ago. The national average rose to $1.82, setting a record for the fourth straight week. Diesel costs rose in line with crude oil, as worldwide production dropped and demand grew. Concern about a war in Iraq and a cold winter in the Northeast also inflated prices on all types of fuel.

Many trucking companies are passing the price increase along to customers in the form of fuel surcharges.

“We’ve had to put a fuel surcharge on the freight,” said Linda Nickerson, traffic manager for Maine Wood Treaters Inc. in Mechanic Falls. “We only do that when the diesel prices rise to a certain level.”

All trucking companies are feeling the impact, but it is the small players who are suffering the most, Nickerson said.

Nationwide, about 90 percent of the trucking industry is made up of people who own fewer than 10 trucks, according to the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

A similar diesel increase hit New England three years ago, but this latest wave is more ominous, said Dale Hanington, president and CEO of the Maine Motor Transport Association, which represents 1,200 members.

“The difference between this time and then is that 2000 truly was a spike; it went up and came right back down,” Hanington said. “This time it started up more gradually and it is sustained over a much longer period of time.”