Independent truckers fume as costs rise

Sitting behind the wheel of his big rig, Sean Russell looks calm, cool and collected.

But inside, he’s tied in knots.

Dieselprices. Toll roads. Maintenance fees. Insurance payments. Dispatcher charges.

He knows that in the past year, hundreds of small- to mid-sized trucking outfits have folded under the pressure of these costs. He doesn’t want to be next.

“If you don’t make the stop, you fall behind,” Mr. Russell said. “And if you fall behind, you don’t get paid on time. And without money, there’s no gas to keep this thing going.”

Since diesel prices began to spike this year, he has spent months on the road and hours on the phone with his banker, making sure his finances are in order. Checking and double-checking before buying his next meal or gallon of diesel.

As owner and operator of God Works trucking, Mr. Russell has crisscrossed the country in his 18-wheeler with his girlfriend, Mary Carter, and her two children, Justin, 8, and Heather, 14, who just got out of school for summer break. He not only enjoys their company, Ms. Carter also holds a commercial driver’s license, meaning fewer stops and more loads.

The pair hauls construction supplies from city to city. Life is growing difficult, considering that it costs more than $1,400 to fill up the truck these days, up from about $800 a year ago.

Some truckers are so upset over fuel prices that they are protesting. Nationally, a gallon of diesel fuel is averaging $4.69 a gallon, compared with $2.80 a gallon a year ago. They’re driving trucks that get little more than 6 miles per gallon. Carriers say they need relief.

Truckers and Citizens United is a group that has protested high fuel prices at state capitols in Harrisburg, Pa., and Albany, N.Y., calling on legislatures to pass laws that will help. Hundreds from the coalition protested in the rain at the U.S. Capitol on April 28, asking Congress to stop oil company subsidies and begin using fuel in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Ronald Wenger, a member of Truckers and Citizens United, says, “Truckers are up against the wall. They can’t keep putting up this kind of money.” He helps organize the protests and was traveling in an 8-mile convoy toward the state Capitol in Albany when he spoke with The Washington Times: “We’re just trying to do what we can to make fuel prices lower,” he says, amid the bullhorns and shouting that surround him. “More and more truckers are being forced out because of these prices. If you put too many truckers out, we’re going to have empty shelves at the grocery store. Then this will become everybody’s problem, not just a trucker problem.”

Mr. Russell knows their pain. He and other haulers aren’t paid back for the fuel they use until weeks after they’ve completed their runs. So, Mr. Russell could be driving for weeks before the broker who tells him where to go pays him. Even when he does get paid, he doesn’t know what kind of surcharges will be taken out of his check. The instability puts him on edge. It adds up after a while, he says.

“It puts extra pressure on you when you’re out there trying to run a legitimate business,” he said, “and then the price of fuel keeps going higher and higher.”

American Trucking Associations state Vice President Mike Card testified before Congress on May 6. He outlined the financial hardships of the nation’s motor carriers.

“Our industry can’t simply absorb this rapid increase in fuel costs,” Mr. Card said. “We must pass some of these costs through to our customers, which ultimately translate into higher prices on the store shelves.”

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