Fuel Costs and who is to blame?

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normanjean

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Oct 3, 2025
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Look out people looks like another bumpy ride in the trucking industry.
How is it a huge jump in fuel prices and yet there is an over supply of it sitting around. They blame it on the Iran war. but if over supply of fuel then why are fuel prices jacked up
 
normanjean said:
Look out people looks like another bumpy ride in the trucking industry.
How is it a huge jump in fuel prices and yet there is an over supply of it sitting around. They blame it on the Iran war. but if over supply of fuel then why are fuel prices jacked up
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Speculation the prices might rise over the coming months, so they have to charge more now to buy the next batch, I'm guessing.
 
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The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed. Who knows if it is either by threats of sinking or oil tankers not taking the risk or insurance companies pulling the insurance. If you have 1B of oil on a tanker and the insurance will not cover it you will sit.

25% of the world's oil passes through there. Maybe very little is destined for North Americal but if China decides to pay more for it you can guarantee it will reflect on our price. Price of the barrel of oil on Jan 1 was $57USD and today it is trading at 70.00USD

I did a quick calculation on my fuel costs. Since Jan 1 my costs have increased almost $0.30 cad per mile. That turns out to being an additional 900-1000 extra for the week a truck runs.

Make sure your customers understand that it is not the trucking companies gouging, it is the trucking companies trying to survive while hauling your customers freight.
 
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China has also instructed refineries to review, limit and potentially halt Oil Exports... It's going to get worse before it gets better. Can't forget the little foray in to Venezuela.... as to who is to blame? Depends what rhetoric and propaganda you subscribe to.
 
China making waves and demands. part of it i dont blame them. Also President says fuel cost just minor glitch,, What ever that means
 
normanjean said:
Holy crap. brokers/ shippers are just not getting it. the price of fuel sky rockets, and prices from shippers/ brokers going down. get it together people. how to close up trucking. We need to stick to our prices so the prices go up. Lets band together.
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“Let’s band together “ how many times have we heard that cry? Yes, far too many, but the result is always the same. Independent business owners are free to make their own decisions, regardless if they are right or wrong. A rate that you might find to be far too cheap to even consider, might be just enough for someone else to haul. Definitely, the increased fuel costs will have an impact on rates, which is why smart carriers have negotiated fuel surcharges into their rate structures to handle situations like we are currently experiencing. Short of collusion or price fixing, or any other illegal manipulation of the market, “banding together” will remain nothing more than a heart felt but meaningless expression.
 
Yep, get 5 trucking company owners in the same room you will hear all the BS stories that they don't run for under $5.00 per mile. Get 5 brokers in the adjacent room and they say they all move the exact same freight at 1.00 per mile. The truth is in between but nobody wants to give their position away. There are too many issues that influence the price point of the movement of freight.

It's exactly like a market in the Caribbean, haggle and haggle for a price, and nobody is happy for what they agreed on.
 
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normanjean said:
I know there is always going to be issues but there has to be something we can do
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normanjean said:
Too many carriers out there trying to make a quick buck and not pay the bills and move on to other things too
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BINGO!!! You hit the nail on the head. If the people paying the freight would demand that their brokers hire a quality of carrier then there would be some consistency. If freight payers would blacklist a carrier or broker after one failure, it would be fixed fast. Alas, that is the challenge - the freight payer, and the broker, want to pay the lowest number and are willing to take the risk of a substandard carrier who is willing to do things illegal. Its either that or pay more. Get prices, put it in the Excel spreadsheet, sort from Z--A and that carrier gets it, whether or not he is actually a carrier or one that can handle it.

A wise person said to me about 20 years ago, you can't continue to keep buying stuff from Walmart at cheaper and cheaper prices and expecting your wages to keep going up.
 
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Jim L said:
BINGO!!! You hit the nail on the head. If the people paying the freight would demand that their brokers hire a quality of carrier then there would be some consistency. If freight payers would blacklist a carrier or broker after one failure, it would be fixed fast. Alas, that is the challenge - the freight payer, and the broker, want to pay the lowest number and are willing to take the risk of a substandard carrier who is willing to do things illegal. Its either that or pay more. Get prices, put it in the Excel spreadsheet, sort from Z--A and that carrier gets it, whether or not he is actually a carrier or one that can handle it.

A wise person said to me about 20 years ago, you can't continue to keep buying stuff from Walmart at cheaper and cheaper prices and expecting your wages to keep going up.
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I agree with you totally some thing needs to change
 
Nawk said:
In 2008 the price of a barrel of oil was more than it is now but fuel was cheaper.

The difference I see is that the government in 2008 wasn't taxing the environment like they are now.

Tax on the tax on the tax.
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But but but the Liberals said they removed the carbon tax. Please tell me they didn't lie to the Canadian population and just change the name of it. I know their voters may not see it. You see they pooped their pants (Trudeau) and changed their hat (Carney) cause they are soo smart and eduumacated...
 
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Jim L said:
Yep, get 5 trucking company owners in the same room you will hear all the BS stories that they don't run for under $5.00 per mile. Get 5 brokers in the adjacent room and they say they all move the exact same freight at 1.00 per mile. The truth is in between but nobody wants to give their position away. There are too many issues that influence the price point of the movement of freight.

It's exactly like a market in the Caribbean, haggle and haggle for a price, and nobody is happy for what they agreed on.
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You know you've gotten a good deal if both parties leave the negotiating table pissed off.
 
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