Minnesota Truckers say rising diesel prices could be passed off to consumers

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - The Minnesota Trucking Association says that it has been receiving reports of diesel prices more than $4 per gallon across Minnesota.

The MTA says with more than 96% of manufactured goods being delivered by truck at some point, the impact for consumers could be larger than some might expect.

MTA President John Hausladen says that it isn’t unusual for gas and diesel prices to rise due to foreign conflicts overseas, like the U.S.’s current war with Iran, but when prices do go up it can have a big impact.

“When diesel prices go up, it’s a cost we cannot absorb, it’s up to the retailer or the wholesaler how to do that, but we kind of have to,” Hausladen said.

In Minnesota, the MTA says a wide variety of raw materials, food and medical equipment are all delivered by truck at some point, which means if the price increase lasts for long, it could affect a wide variety of products.

Volk Transfer Inc. in Mankato says for its fleet of 40 trucks, it has seen a 25 to 30% increase in costs over the past few weeks.

Vice President of Operations Ben Froehlich says the company delivers a wide variety of products across 48 states and has been seeing an increase in cost across all of them.

In California, prices are as high as $8 per gallon.

Froehlich says each driver typically drives an average of 700 miles or more, and with the increase in prices, it has gone from an average of spending 60 cents per mile to 75 cents per mile.

“The disappointing part for me is that we were kind of on an upturn when this all started. In the trucking industry it has been depressed for a few years now, as far as (freight) rates. Now rates are going up but its artificial because of the fuel costs,” Froehlich said.

Froehlich says many companies are able to reduce the impact at least, thanks to local agreements with fuel suppliers like Kwik Trip and TA, but he hopes that the rise in price will only be a momentary blip.

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