The price for a gallon of diesel fuel jumped 3 cents last week after five straight weeks of decline — putting the spotlight again on the survival struggles of small trucking companies and owner operators.
Fuel Prices
Week of April 24:
source
price
change
DOE
142.8
+3.0
Comdata*
137.2
-0.8
OPIS self-serve*
138.8
-0.6
OPIS wholesale*
85.2
+5.1
*Comdata and OPIS figures are for the week of April 15-21. Click here for more fuel prices.
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The good news for heavy diesel users is that prices may be headed downward again, but the bad news is that a lot of truckers may fail before the price gets significantly lower.
The national average reached $1.428 a gallon on April 24, up from $1.398 the previous week, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. In doing so, it fulfilled a prediction made last week by the editorial director of an oil trade publication ("Fuel Price Fall Is Steady But Future Spikes Expected," 4-24, p. 1).
Citing low inventories and unseasonably cool weather in the Northeast, Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service in Rockville, Md., had forecast rising wholesale prices would produce a spike in the retail price. However, he now thinks the worst is over and expects additional declines.
For the full story, see the May 1 print edition of Transport Topics. .
