Think you’re spending a lot filling up the tank of your car these days? Be glad you’re not buying diesel to power a big truck. The price of gasoline is still rising because of the war in Iran and so is the price of diesel fuel. And it’s hitting the D.C. region hard.
“You’re talking about $150 per day per truck in new fuel costs. That’s new fuel costs on top of what they may have been paying a year ago,” Louis Campion, president and CEO of the Maryland Motor Truck Association, told WTOP.
As of Monday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported the average price of diesel in the central Atlantic region was $6.31 per gallon.
“A year ago it was $3.92,” Campion said “So you’ve seen an increase of $2.39 since last year.”
And fuel has surpassed labor as trucking companies’ biggest expense.
The soaring diesel prices, driven by the Iran war, are especially hard on truck drivers who work alone or with small companies, he said, because it often takes a while for them to be paid for their shipments.
“In many cases, it’s 30, 60, 90 days before you’re paid … which means that at these shocking levels, you’ve got to tap into reserves or lines of credit to be able to continue to fuel your truck,” Campion said.
The consumers at the end of the supply chain also pay the price.
In Maryland, Campion said 93% of communities depend exclusively on trucks to get their goods.
“You literally have nothing without trucking. You have no diapers, you have no computers, you have no food, you have no clothing, right? And so ultimately, there has to be a pass-through,” he said. “As the cost of delivery rises, that cost is going to continue to trickle down to consumers and just put additional inflationary pressures on people.”
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