The US hauling industry may collapse under its own weight due to skyrocketing diesel prices, according to independent truckers.

“The current situation with fuel is so dire that I am seriously considering switching from driving a truck to driving a passenger car for the first time in more than 30 years,” Chicago-based independent owner-operator Jason Price told FreightWaves. “I would be able to get double the mileage and my costs would drop by at least 70%.”

Independent truckers are sounding the alarm that skyrocketing diesel prices are making the US supply-chain and trucking industry unsustainable, forcing many truckers to buy passenger cars and forcing many companies to automate.

For many years now, diesel prices have been on the rise. In fact, they’ve risen so much that independent truckers are sounding the alarm that skyrocketing diesel prices are making the US supply-chain and trucking industry unsustainable. This is forcing many truckers to buy passenger cars and forcing many companies to automate.

In his speech at a conference for independent truckers in Atlanta last week, Grant Smith, CEO of American Trucking Association (ATA) said:

> “We can’t continue using our trucks like this.”

Skyrocketing fuel prices are pricing-out independent truckers, who fear for their future as diesel prices threaten to make their industry unsustainable.

Many companies have already made the switch from hiring people to do manual tasks, like driving trucks and unloading cargo at ports, to more automated systems. Automation is cheaper than hiring human drivers and has a lower risk of accidents or injury.

As automation becomes widespread across industries that rely on trucking services to deliver goods from one place to another, many companies will likely opt for automation instead of paying human drivers higher wages. This is particularly true if those costs increase due to soaring fuel prices.

“The current situation with fuel is so dire that I am seriously considering switching from driving a truck to driving a passenger car for the first time in more than 30 years,” Chicago-based independent owner-operator Jason Price told FreightWaves. “I would be able to get double the mileage and my costs would drop by at least 70%.”

Jason Price is an independent owner-operator from Chicago. He told FreightWaves that he is considering switching from driving a truck to driving a passenger car because of the high price of diesel.

Price said he would be able to get double the mileage and his costs would drop by at least 70% if he switched to driving a passenger car instead of his 18-wheeler.

For Price, as it is for other drivers, the cost of diesel has become too high to contend with. Rising fuel costs, caused by several factors but especially the recent cyberattack on oil company Colonial Pipeline, have caused the price of gas and diesel across the country to skyrocket.

For many truckers (and non-truckers), this means it’s no longer financially viable to drive long distances in search of work or profit. So what does that mean for consumers? What will happen if we can’t find enough truckers? The impact could be disastrous: supply chains could break down or become unreliable at best; at worst they might cease entirely.

The US hauling industry may collapse under its own weight

Without a huge investment in electric-powered trucks and infrastructure, the US hauling industry may collapse under its own weight.

Diesel prices have skyrocketed in the past year, reaching a high of $4.6 per gallon at the end of July. That’s more than double what it cost just one year ago—and it’s not likely to get better any time soon. A recent report by AAA predicts that fuel prices will rise another 40 cents per gallon by Halloween, which would bring us close to $5 again. The end result is an unsustainable situation for truckers already struggling with increased regulation and safety requirements since the Great Purge began in 2021 (see below). If these trends continue unchecked, many experts predict that shippers will begin switching from railroads back to their own fleets as soon as 2022 (or even sooner), which could leave many shipping companies bankrupt before Christmas 2021!

Conclusion

While there is no doubt that diesel prices will go down eventually, it could take a few months before we see any relief. Until then, we can only hope that the US economy doesn’t suffer too much from lack of trucking capacity.

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