ATA Urges Truckers to Contact Congress Over Fuel Prices

Motor carriers and truckers can access a sample letter to Congress by clicking here.

American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves Thursday urged motor carriers and truckers to tell Congress how rising fuel costs are hurting their businesses, illustrating the dramatic impact skyrocketing fuel prices are having on the movement of freight.

“We are an essential part of the economic food chain,” Graves said. “We’ve got to move freight every day to keep the economy going. But our drivers feel the pinch every time they fill up at the pump.”

Graves said this call to action marked just one leg of ATA’s Alliance for Trucking Advocacy’s ongoing grassroots campaign designed to educate public officials and consumers about the effects of rising fuel prices on the trucking industry, and, ultimately, the national economy.

At current prices, the trucking industry is on pace to spend an unprecedented $80 billion on diesel fuel this year, $18 billion more than last year, ATA said. That follows a $10 billion increase in fuel costs last year over 2003.

This is significant because more than 500,000 motor carriers in the United States transport nearly 70% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation.

Trucks hauled 9.8 billion tons of freight in 2004, collecting $671 billion dollars, or just under 88%, of total revenues earned by all transport modes.

Motor carriers and truckers can access a sample letter to Congress by clicking here.