Diesel Reaches Record High

The national average retail price of diesel fuel reached its highest level ever last week, and it may not have hit its peak.

	Fuel Prices
	Week of Aug. 28:
	source	price		change
	DOE	153.6		+6.5
	Comdata*	146.7		+3.7
	OPIS self-serve*	148.2		+4.0
	OPIS wholesale*	98.0		+5.8
	*Comdata and OPIS figures are for the week of Aug. 19-25. Click here for more fuel prices.

According to the Energy Information Administration, the national average retail price of diesel fuel on Aug. 28 was $1.536 a gallon, up a whopping 6.5 cents from the previous week. Jonathon Cogan, an energy information specialist with EIA said the Aug. 28 price, “without adjusting for inflation, is the highest in history.”

The high prices — and the expectation that they will stay high — has led at least one analyst to predict the disappearance of some small fleets and further consolidation in the trucking industry.

While nearly all carriers have fuel surcharges in place, the recapture rate of the added expenses for both truckload and less-than-truckload carriers has been estimated at 75-80%.

For the full story, see the Sept. 4 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.