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Trucking through Katrina’s wake

The dramatic spike in diesel fuel in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita delivered a devastating one-two punch to the trucking industry, but federal and state governments are taking steps designed to ease the pain. For example:

• The Bush administration announced plans to sell approximately 30 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to offset the shortage caused by Hurricane Katrina and to help rein in high fuel prices. Unfortunately, the refinery capacity to refine oil was also greatly reduced by the storms, meaning it will take time for the released oil to make it to the diesel market. The only other major oil release from the reserve took place in 1991 when President George H.W. Bush released 17 million barrels of oil to prepare for Operation Desert Storm.

• Some states are making it easier for truckers to help with the hurricane relief by tem porarily easing or eliminating height and weight restrictions. Indiana is not charging permit fees for oversize vehicles that are providing relief efforts. Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas issued similar suspensions.

• Georgia suspended state motor fuel tax through September. The temporary action translated into a tax savings of more than 15 cents per gallon and saved drivers an esti-mated $75 million overall.

• The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration temporarily eased hours-of-service regulations for tankers carrying gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

• The Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency waiver of emission stan dards for diesel and gasoline, allowing retailers to sell diesel that exceeds 500 ppm of sulfur content. For updated information on states that have eased regulations, go online to www.aamva.org/Hurricane Kat-rina.asp and click on Hurricane Katrina Emergency Orders.

Hurricane Katrina exacted a stiff toll from the trucking industry in terms of higher fuel costs and disrupted infrastructure. The sky-high diesel prices have knocked some smaller trucking companies and owner-operators out of business and hurt the industry’s overall profit margins.

The toll on U.S. taxpayers will be even higher. President Bush has already asked for—and Congress has approved—$62.3 billion in relief funds, and that’s just the beginning. Some economists put the final price tag on the rebuilding effort as high as $200 billion.

Along with claiming more than a thousand lives, Hurricane Katrina left an estimated 400,000 people without jobs, and many of those are also homeless.

Amidst all of the suffering and soaring costs, there is a silver lining for the trucking industry. As New Orleans and the Gulf Coast re-builds, most of the steel, lumber, equipment and other supplies needed for the massive reconstruction will be delivered by trucks.

Sources: FEMA, Roemer Report, EPA, FMCSA