Fuel costs clog truck companies; dire steps taken to save pennies

With the cost of diesel fuel having risen at the pump almost 80 percent in the last three years, trucking company owner Tony Tomase crowed about finding a penny on his garage floor yesterday.

"We're fighting for pennies. You've got to," said Mr. Tomase, owner of GetGo Transportation Co., a trucking company employing more than two dozen drivers in Lake Township. "You make your money on pennies per mile." Across the nation, independent truckers are shutting down their rigs and trucking firms are scratching their heads for new ways to save fuel as the ballooning price of diesel flows its way through the economy. "It's affecting consumers. It's affecting owner-operators. A lot of guys are shutting their trucks down," explained Dave Swartz, director of sales and co-owner of Premium Transportation Logistics, in South Toledo. "The cost of everything is going to go up, because everything moves on a truck." According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, the average cost for a gallon of diesel fuel in the Midwest this week was $3.78, up more than $1.11 from a year ago and $1.67 a gallon from the same week in 2005. Gas price Web site, www.Gasbuddy.com, yesterday reported diesel prices in the Toledo area as high as $4 per gallon. Like their counterparts in the airline industry, trucking firms and owner-operators have asked clients to pay fuel surcharges to offset some of those increased costs - but with limited success. "It's putting a serious hurt on our members," said Norita Taylor, a spokesman for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents approximately 160,000 independent truckers. "We've heard of a lot of them who are selling their trucks and signing on as a company driver, or simply sitting until they can get a rate that's worth turning a wheel."

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