57:18 AM Saturday, September 16, 2000 Soaring gas prices concern truckers

By Joe Florkowski

Staff Writer

Soaring diesel prices have caused school districts, tour groups and trucking companies to absorb thousands of dollars in expenses, affecting service they provide.

Diesel costs have increased throughout the year but have shot up in the past three months, reaching a peak that industry analysts have never seen before.

In mid-August diesel prices averaged a $1.60 per gallon, with San Diego and San Francisco prices reaching the $1.72 range. Since then, diesel costs have skyrocketed across the Inland Valley with costs-per-gallon ranging from $1.80 to $2.09 a gallon.

"Everything has gone up because of the cost of crude oil," he said.

Two other factors are also boosting diesel prices, he said.

The Inland Valley's high diesel prices have been further elevated by demand from the area's large trucking industry, as well as from farming and construction equipment, he said. The second reason is that refineries producing diesel fuel experienced problems this summer, affecting supply, he said.

The diesel prices are forcing many businesses to cut costs, raise fees and, in some cases, park their vehicles and wait for costs to go down.

At the Ontario-Montclair School District, though, the situation is not as bad as it is for businesses.

If the high costs continue, the district will be more than $25,000 over budget because it set aside funds for fuel based at the 80 to 90 cents range, he said. Walthall expects the fuel prices to go down, but watches the market daily for changes.

"If the prices stay the same, we'll have to find some extra dollars to get us through the year," he said.

Currently, the school district is not asking its drivers to watch fuel consumption but constantly monitors mileage on its 40 buses, Walthall said.

Tour groups that arrange field trips are also informing the district that diesel costs may cause fuel surcharges, he said.

The 16-bus company expects to see a $400,000 rise in fuel costs compared with 1999, he said.

"That is just unbelievable," he said. "If we absorb all these costs, we'll go out of business."

Besides fuel surcharges, H & L is asking its drivers to reduce the warmup time for buses from an hour

before boarding passengers to 15 minutes, he said.

Inland Valley truckers may have it easier than their Northern Californian counterparts, said truck driver Chris Kueneman. In Northern California, diesel prices are as high as $2.20 cents a gallon, he said.

Many of his friends who own and operate their own trucks are suffering because of the diesel costs, he said.

"Fuel prices are killing them right now," he said.

Small and large trucking companies are both absorbing the diesel costs, with the bigger ones paying more because the additional trucks and distance traveled will raise expenses.

A smaller company, Chino-based Jack Jones Trucking, is spending $250,000 more in fuel costs this year than it did in 1999, said President Valerie Liese. The 50-truck company operates mainly in Southern California and is able to keep its costs down compared with larger companies, she said. The high diesel prices, however, forced Liese to raise the company's transportation fees by 3 percent, she said.

Liese's costs are small compared with Ontario-based trucking company Lanting-Hay Inc., which expects to see fuel costs rise from $5 million in 1999 to $10 million this year.

To save money, the company, which operates nationally, is asking drivers to reduce their speeds by about three miles per hour to cut down on fuel consumption, said president Ron Lanting Sr.

Additionally, the company's nearly 400 trucks are also reducing their idle time to five minutes, at which point, the engines will be shut off, he said.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 16, 2000