Trucking Seeks Help on ULSD from Refiners, Distributors

HOENIX — Trucking executives called for greater cooperation among diesel refiners, fuel transporters and retailers, and warned that carriers will have to monitor their fuel sources for quality as the industry makes the transition to ultra-low-sulfur diesel and 2007 model trucks late next year.

With the ULSD compliance deadline less than 11 months away, there are still unanswered questions about how to ensure fuel quality at the retail level, said industry executives at a ULSD implementation workshop by the American Petroleum Institute held here Nov. 9-11.

For example, even though ULSD may meet the new government-mandated specifications at the refinery, it could be contaminated as it travels through the distribution system, and it could be unknowingly sold at a higher level parts per million than the new limit, said Bill Bode, a partner in the law firm of Bode & Grenier.