House Hears Mandated Fuel Surcharge Arguments

June 13, 2000 9:41 AM, EDT

WASHINGTON — Independent truckers need a fuel surcharge to stay in business, but the federal government has chosen the wrong industry — shippers — to pick up the tab, said witnesses at a June 8 House subcommittee hearing.

The proposed Motor Carrier Fuel Cost Equity Act of 2000 would obligate shippers to pay a surcharge. It would kick in when the average price of diesel jumps more than five cents a gallon above the latest 52-week average price. Language in the legislation calls that figure the “fuel price norm.”

While sympathetic to the plight of independent truckers, representatives of the National Small Shipments Traffic Conference, Transportation Intermediaries Association and National Industrial Transportation League spoke in opposition to the bill introduced by Rep. Nick Rahall II (W.Va.), who is the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee.

The fuel price should be “set by the marketplace,” said Debra Phillips, executive director Nasstrac in Washington, D.C.

For the full story, see the June 12 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.