Fuel

As the nation began easing its way out of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, activity on closely watched initiatives related to the trucking workforce heated up, while efforts to advance new laws for trucking fleets kept stakeholders engaged.

The operator of a pipeline with the largest onshore crude oil spill in nine years has reopened all of it except for the stretch in Kansas and northern Oklahoma that includes the site of the rupture.

The North American Council for Freight Efficiency said fuel efficiency in Class 8 trucks participating in its annual fleet study from 2018 to 2020 remained flat at 7.24 mpg after seven previous years of 2% annual increases.

California’s move toward its 2035 goal of requiring all drayage trucks to be zero-emission is ramping up. Port and trucking experts say to achieve that, the hard work needs to be done now and for at least the next 10 years.

Earlier emergency orders have been extended in Georgia for supply chain and oversize permits and in Nebraska for driving hours hauling fuel.

TC Energy’s efforts to restart a segment of its Keystone oil pipeline after a 14,000-barrel spill have been delayed by bad weather, according to people familiar with the matter.

The national average price of diesel continued its downward trajectory, falling 21.3 cents to $4.754 a gallon, according to Energy Information Administration data released Dec. 12.

American Trucking Associations, the Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers and the Harbor Trucking Association jointly support a recently released Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from the Federal Maritime Commission that seeks to expand the timeliness and overall level of detail and transparency for detention and demurrage invoices coming from common carrier billing parties that provide ocean carriage and storage of freight. 

Fuel economy for 2021 model year vehicles in the U.S. stayed flat with 2020 as people continued to buy less-efficient trucks and SUVs, according to an annual government report published Dec. 12.

The early December oil spill in Kansas means that TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone pipeline has now leaked more crude oil than any other conduit on U.S. land in the past 12 years.