By Michael G. Malloy, Staff Reporter This story appears in the Oct. 21 print edition of Transport Topics.
The average price of a gallon of diesel fuel in the United States declined 1.1 cents last week to $3.886, the fifth straight decline, the Department of Energy reported Oct. 17, the day the federal government went back to work.
Trucking’s main fuel has now dropped about a dime — 9.5 cents — in its five downturns, DOE’s Energy Information Administration said following its weekly survey of filling stations. The release was several days late due to the partial government shutdown.
Gasoline, meanwhile, fell for a sixth week, down 1.3 cents to $3.354 a gallon. The motor fuel has dropped 25.4 cents over its six recent declines.
Compared with the corresponding week a year ago, diesel is now 26.4 cents lower, while gas is off 46.5 cents, EIA figures showed.
EIA’s employees returned to work Oct. 17 after they were furloughed for several days because of the government shutdown, which caused EIA to report the fuel prices several days later than it usually does. The prices are based on data collected Oct. 14, EIA spokesman Jonathan Cogan said.
The agency said it had never missed a weekly survey since it began tracking both diesel and gasoline prices in March 1994.
The survey’s delay had prompted concern in the trucking industry about having benchmark fuel prices on which to base national and regional fuel surcharges. Several private groups made fuel prices available in the interim to fill the void, most of which pointed to about a penny decline.
Prior to the agreement to end the 16-day shutdown that began Oct. 1, some trucking sources said they believed it would be short-lived and were generally planning to use the previous week’s EIA average as the basis for their fuel surcharges.
“Certainly, our major customers are honoring last week’s number,” said Shepard Dunn, CEO of truckload carrier Bestway Express Inc., referring to the Oct. 7 price when EIA said diesel dipped 2.2 cents to $3.897.
“Some might be willing to do a ‘true up,’ ” he said, referring to any changes that DOE might have filled in later, had the shutdown continued.
“I’m a little bit cautious but imagine the major shippers who have been through high fuel prices before are going to honor it,” Dunn told Transport Topics.
ProMiles Software said its fuel prices were more relevant to the trucking industry than official government figures, with its price averaged from thousands of truck stops in its database.
Both ProMiles and Breakthrough Fuel also provided a breakdown of regional, or “PADD,” prices, as does EIA.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services advised its customers last week that it would continue to use the Oct. 7 DOE price.
So did the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, which manages surface freight transportation for the U.S. military worldwide, said Mitch Chandran, public information officer with the command, which is based at Scott Air Force Base in southern Illinois.
Oil prices, meanwhile, fell to a 3½-month low on Oct. 17, following a report that showed supplies increased.
Crude futures fell $1.62 to $100.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest closing price since July 2, Bloomberg News reported.
