Oil Up $11 Bucks in One Day...
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 11:57 pm
-to $138 a barrel.
That has nothing to do with supply and demand, folks.
We're fukked.
That has nothing to do with supply and demand, folks.
We're fukked.
Or forget about any talk of it only being a recession, it'll be a depression.
Just ask any trucking company how they're doing.. that is, the ones that haven't already closed their doors like Jevic because they could no longer afford to operate because of the price of fuel.
The trucking firm Jevic Transportation Inc., of Delanco, announced today that it was ceasing operations after 27 years, a victim of high diesel and insurance costs as well as the tightened economy.
The 1,500-employee national firm, with about 1,000 in Burlington County, making it one of the county's largest employers, said it would deliver all freight already within its system before closing entirely.
Peter A. Robinson, director of marketing and corporate communications, said the company had been feeling pressure from the economic downturn for months and had been reducing positions for some time.
"When you are a carrier, you see the recession coming before anyone else," he said. "Customers are shipping less."
Tiffany Wlazlowski, spokeswoman for the American Trucking Associations, said that rising fuel costs had placed huge pressures on trucking firms.
"For many motor carriers, fuel is now equal to labor as the highest expense," she said. "The trucking industry spent $112 billion on fuel in 2007, and we're on pace to spend $141.5 billion in 2008."
Since Jan. 1, 2007, diesel fuel prices have risen from $2.67 a gallon to $4.52 today, according to AAA.
In a letter to employees, Jevic's management said it had been seeking "financing or other alternatives that would have enabled it to continue operations. However, it has been unsuccessful, due in part to unforeseeable tightening of the credit markets."