Paul Kelly can?t remember a more trying time for Baltimore?s trucking industry.
“I?ve been in this business for 20 years, and this is the worst I?ve seen,” said Kelly, chairman of the Maryland Motor Truck Association?s Intermodal Council and vice president of Baltimore-based Den-El Transfer.
The ever-increasing cost of diesel fuel, coupled with sagging economic conditions, have dramatically slowed activity for Baltimore?s independent truckers and trucking companies, Kelly said.
“Revenues are down across the board,” Kelly said. “The business just isn?t there.”
Diesel costs in the Baltimore area have risen to record highs every day this week, increasing 3 cents from Wednesday to Thursday to an average of almost $4.20 a gallon, according to AAA?s Fuel Gauge Report. In the past year, the average cost for a gallon of diesel in the area has jumped almost 44 percent from $2.92 a gallon.
“The problem is passing that increase to the customer is not an easy task,” Kelly said. “It?s a very competitive business.”
The average Baltimore-area trucker logs about 1,500 miles a week and spends an estimated $375 more per week on fuel than this time last year, Kelly said.
Average fuel surcharges ? costs passed on to customers ? have spiked from 15 percent to 17 percent in the past year to 25 percent to 35 percent, Kelly said.
“If the customers don?t want to pay that, then the driver, the company or both are going to eat that cost,” Kelly said.
Louis Campion, vice president of the MMTA, said there?s no simple solution to soaring diesel costs, especially when the cost of crude oil accounts for 60 percent of the cost of diesel fuel.
Crude for May rose to a record high of $115.54 a barrel before settling at $114.86 a barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Campion said the MMTA has encouraged member truckers and companies to keep their fuel surcharge rates up to date, to limit speeding and sudden accelerations and to consider the use of alternative power units when the truck is idle to maximize fuel savings.
MMTA members plan to travel to Washington, D.C., on May 7 to discuss issues facing Maryland?s trucking industry with congressional representatives.
“Fuel is going to be at the top of that list,” Campion said.
