Fuel Surcharge Follies
Everyone agrees we need relief, but self-serving politics could hurt all.
Deborah Whistler
Editor
Today's fuel price woes really began back in 2000 when diesel soared from $1.50 a gallon up to $2. Shippers and brokers balked at paying fuel surcharges. The crisis took its toll; more than 8,000 trucking companies went down.
Because of the fuel crisis of 2000, carriers - especially the larger fleets with more leverage - have been much more successful at collecting fuel surcharges. But owner-operators and small fleet owners still struggle to stay afloat when fuel eats up all their profits and then some.
The industry has finally got Congress to try to help. The House Highway Bill has an amendment that would mandate a fuel surcharge for trucking. But the Senate's recently passed Highway Bill doesn't include fuel surcharge legislation.
What's the problem? A divided trucking lobby.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn. issued a "Call To Action" to its members, urging them to write their senators to put an OOIDA fuel surcharge amendment into the Senate bill.
But other industry groups have been reluctant to push the OOIDA amendment, mostly because it contains language believed to be unfair to trucking companies.
Under the amendment, fleets would have to pay owner-operators a fuel surcharge, whether they are able to collect the surcharge from shippers or not.
The implication is that fleets will pocket fuel surcharge money they collect, and leave the owner-operators hanging.
Any carrier doing such a thing should be severely punished. But it looks like this amendment would punish carriers that are playing by the rules if they were stiffed by a shipper or broker. Keep in mind that most of the abuses in the fuel surcharge arena are perpetrated by shippers, not fleets.
So once again, we're back to the trucking industry sending conflicting messages to legislators. Trucking's inability to get on the same page is probably why the Senate version of the Highway Bill dropped the fuel surcharge issue altogether. If you have split industry lobbying efforts, the best course of action in government is usually to do nothing.
We sympathize with owner-operators who are taking it on the chin in this fuel fiasco. But the industry needs to get on the same page in legislating a fuel surcharge. The folks who should be punished for not paying for fuel increases are the shippers and brokers who refuse to get with the program.
Trucking should easily get public and government support for the fuel surcharge cause. Everyone understands the impact of sky-high fuel costs. But until industry groups can set their self-interests aside for the good of all, everybody will pay.
And the situation isn't going to get any better. Fuel prices will likely never drop back to under $2 a gallon.
OOIDA is on the right track insisting that all motor carriers, brokers and freight forwarders running truckload freight must implement fuel surcharge programs. And 100% of that money needs to be passed on to the person who actually pays for the fuel.
But forcing fleets to kick down money they are unable to collect isn't right.
E-mail Deb Whistler at dwhistler@truckinginfo.com
