Some independent truckers stage slowdown to protest fuel prices

April 01, 2008

Some slowdowns occurred on the nation's highways Tuesday as independent truck drivers tried to protest rising fuel prices.

The level of disruption in freight movement appeared to be minimal, however, although supporters of action said more trucks might be idled through the rest of the week.

A loosely organized group of drivers, converging through a Web site run by a Carrollton, Mo., livestock hauler, parked their trucks or slowed to a crawl on highways in some parts of the country to bring attention to the plight of independent truckers.

Diesel prices exceed $4 a gallon in some parts of the country, and owner-operators are complaining that they can no longer afford to keep running their trucks and demanding that contractors pay more to cover the costs.

'There's really no way to tell how widespread this is,' said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association in Grain Valley. 'But the source of frustration is pretty broad among independent truckers and their inability to offset the higher fuel costs.'

Spencer said most independent drivers who buy the fuel to fill their trucks do not receive the extra payment that shippers customarily charge their customers in fuel surcharges.

'Intermediaries and brokers are becoming adept at packaging these kinds of charges to shippers and just keeping it for themselves,' Spencer said. 'There's no transparency in the process to make sure fuel surcharges are passed on to the driver who pays for the fuel.'

Spencer said the association had heard from drivers who said they planned to shut down Tuesday as well as those who said they would drive as usual. He said the trade group does not endorse shutdowns or strikes but supports the decisions made by its members

Robert Merrell, a former independent owner-operator, said independent drivers need to have long-term relationships with brokers and firms they trust for them to receive the extra payment in fuel surcharges.

'There are a lot of companies out there that promise to pay you the fuel surcharge, then they don't pay you, and you never hear from them again,' said Merrell, who sold his truck last fall because of the high fuel costs.

Merrell, a Liberty resident, now drives for Schneider National. He was delivering freight Tuesday from southern Georgia to Scottsdale, Ky., and said he did not see any trucks on his route that appeared to be shut down or slowing down.

He said he began hearing about an independent driver shutdown about two weeks ago, but he doubted it would have an effect, given the number of drivers available and the excess capacity in the industry.

Merrell understands their plight, which caused him to sell his rig and go work for a company.

'The more fuel goes up, the more the bottom line shrinks for the independent drivers,' he said. 'With fuel at these prices and paying for your own maintenance and insurance, you can't make a living any longer.'

That was what prompted Dan Little of Little & Little Trucking LLC in Carrollton to call for a nationwide protest by independent owner-operators in the form of a shutdown.

Little, a livestock hauler, said the first action Congress should take is to temporarily suspend the collection of fuel taxes.

'This is a call to Washington to get their attention to do something about this,' said Little, who noted that trucks slowed and disruptions occurred in several parts of the country Tuesday. 'This isn't just one guy jumping up and down and throwing a fit. I look for this to go on through the rest of the week.'

Still, the initial impact of the owner-operator slowdown seems to be minimal, said Mike Smid of YRC Worldwide Inc.

'We have seen a few areas where there's been some fluctuation in freight movement, but it hasn't been significant or notable,' said Smid, chief executive of YRC North American Transportation.

Smid said if the shutdown by independent drivers is protracted and becomes more widespread, it could become an opportunity for YRC to add freight volumes in the truckload market. YRC is primarily a less-than-truckload carrier but also moves some truckload freight.

Trucking companies in the less-than-truckload sector like YRC have applied a fuel surcharge to customers for several years as a hedge against price volatility.

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