Refineries all over the country are doing expansions, improvements, and debottleneck projects left and right. Most design and construction firms have more work than they can handle right now. None of it is going to make a huge impact though until someone starts building new refineries.

Saw on the news where truckers in Pa. formed a convoy and drove to the capital. It was a very quick piece on the news, kind of like an afterthought.
Eddie

Most truck drivers are so dumb they won't even do things to help themselves.
Their all crying about the cost of fuel. The next time you are close to a truckstop, pull in and you will see at least 75% of the trucks sitting there idling the motors. They can't even do the simple math.
Your average truck burns 1.5 gallons a fuel per hour. At $4.00 per gallon that is $6.00 per hour.
The government law makes drivers take a 10 break after 11 hours of driving. 10hrs @ $6.00per hr. = $60 per day. 5 days per week = $300 per week, $1200 per month, $14,400 per year.
They will leave their trucks running even if the don't need heat or air condition.
A generator system complete with air, heat and heat to keep the motor warm burns .02 a gallon per hour. They are $9000 fully installed and will pay for themselves in under 9 months and out wear 2 trucks.
They won't even shut their trucks off while their sitting at a dock loading for a couple of hours.
There are a lot of other ways they could help themselves save money, progressive shifting, more aerodynamics, drive slower, don't make sharp turns so they can cut down on tire wear.
Do they have a voice representing them to the government?
If they want to do something to be noticed they should just boycott Washington DC for a week or two.

I'm just sick and tired of listen to them pizz and moan about not making any money and then watch them foolishly pizz it away.

I agree about the generators but here in calif starting this january the state will want it to have the same emissions as the truck engine so companies here are waiting to see what happens before spending the money on them

Railroads are looking really good right about now.

Too bad that they didn't strike. My drive in would have been peaceful for once.

Well we have a generator on the side of our truck. Now they say we can't use them to idle with either. Makes no sense. I really like the comment about truckers being dumb, thanks for that.

It is not all about the fuel. try toll roads, more taxes, fuel surcharges, rules for hours of service, and just to never mind

Just when you thought oil companies made enough money...now they are looking for tax breaks!
:(

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/31/news...ring/index.htm

If you look, I said most. Just go in any big truckstop and you will see what I mean.

Here is a question do you shut your heat and air off when you are at home?
Because this is our homes. I am at a truck stop and there are trucks running. Like I said they are in there homes. Like it or not that is the way it has been for years.

I drive about 2 hours each day commuting on I-75 with the truck traffic. Knowing what I do about speed and fuel consumption. (I know that my 2007 Malibu with a 3.5 gets 35mpg at 69 mph. When I go up to 75mph, I am down to 28mpg, 80mph.... 24mpg)
Every time a big rig passes me going maybe 75-80 in a 60mph truck zone, I know why their fuel costs are high. I am willing to wait one more day for the Amazon.com order. No problem. You guys go ahead and slow down a little.
Especially on glaze ice like last friday. Trucks going 80 mph on glaze ice, barely in control, made me think that they were dumb. No truck stop needed.

I leave the heat/air on at home when I'm there.
And when I'm in the truck I turn the key off whenever the truck isn't rolling. When the temp. gets below 65 or above 75 outside I turn the generator on.

Just took a look at the websites for the Star Ledger and the Asbury Park Press....not even a blip about this on either one yet.

Truckers need a new PR person. Making the rest of the drivers angry will not reduce their costs, nor will it garner them sympathy.

My F350 is parked - bought a 90 Acura to drive around to try to save up a little fuel money for boating season. There is no reason that diesel should be more than gasoline. It is still a byproduct, reguardless of the additives put in after the fact. You can't make gasoline, without producing diesel.

Yep,
Been doing that for years now, leave the F-350 in the driveway and buy old beater cars and drive them into the ground.:D
Dean

No srike here in Boston. i asked a driver at luch about an hour ago if he was on srtike abd he jusy laughed at me. And no he wasnt an illegal.

Not necesssarily a PR person. They need some 'logistics' (a word you see on about 50% of the trailers out there).
A strike might be effective if its target was one that dealt a consequence.
I would think a complete stop of deliveries of ALL goods to Washington DC i.e. food, liquor, jet fuel, paper goods, condoms, etc. for a few weeks might get some attention. Shut the place down.
Same goes for any deliveries to Wall Street where these prices are seemingly being fixed. Stop all the bottled water, breakfast bars, and toilet paper for about a month, and someone might take notice.....

Sticky issue:

A. Diesel fuel is overpriced because it is, in fact cheaper to produce than gasoline. Prices on it do rise in the winter because it is essentially the same blend as home heating oil and jet fuel, but the prices right now are clearly the result of gouging through speculation. There is a lack of refining capacity because the US Government, states and local municipalities have banded together to make constructing new ones anywhere almost impossible..... (Who to blame?- you- you elect your political nitwits).

B. Freight bills have a fuel surcharge which responsible companies add to the transportation rates. This has been compromised a bit lately because they are set every Monday based on D.O.T. reports available that day. Unfortunately, when diesel prices skyrocket .30 in the following 7 days the industry is always a week behind. Owner/operators ("indie's, gypsies, etc") have two courses of action:

1. Sign on with a reputable company who passes on most of those fuel surcharges to the truck. (These opportunities are drying up since O/O's are notorious for wanting "to be my own boss so nobody tells me what to do!"...... a quaint but misguided notion since we all answer to somebody) If you are trying to run a freight business, would you want to utilize somebody who refuses "to run east of the Hudson River"? These companies realize that they must survive and any work stoppage in this economy when the vast majority of company owned trucks are still running is akin to giving your business away.

or

2. Haul broker freight and rely on a parasite to "treat you fairly" (Another quaint but unrealistic notion in most cases).By giving the shipper a cheap, unprofitable alternative to asset based carriers, these brokers drive freight rates down on the backs of the O/O's who simply cannot negotiate from a position of strength in today's economy where in business bigger is better.

So


The solution is happening as we speak. The O/O's will stage a poorly organized "Nationwide Strike" for about the 6th time in the past 20 years ..... ( Remember the others?...no?...well this is just like them). After the "strike" some O/O's will hang it up for good and sell their trucks. Others, many of whom live from hand to mouth, will, as a result of this week's lost income, not be able to make this month's truck payment and will come out of the truck stop one day to find their trailer sitting and their tractor gone to the repo man. In the end this will drive the current overcapacity in the industry out of the market and allow the surviving trucking companies (some of them will go out of business as well) to earn a decent buck for a quality job.

Just my .02....but what do I know?

T2x

You might want to include yourself in that one. Last time I checked, New Jersey was not exactly what you might call "business friendly". ;)

I always love that one. :rolleyes:

Sure, I hear ya'. Since the westbound freight out of Long Island and New England is so prevalent and so high paying, why on earth would anyone NOT want to go out there? :rolleyes:

This part I do agree with. Overcapacity is the main problem. Too many people with their hand in the cookie jar.

The money the typical shipper pays on a typical load, will likely be dispursed to about three people: 1st the brokerage company they use to find a truck, 2nd the company that the truck is leased onto and then finally the owner-driver of the truck who is actually paying the operating cost and doing the physical work of transporting the goods. By the time he gets paid, he actually is only receiving about 60% of the total freight charge.

If more shippers would deal directly with trucking companies (big and small) and not filter the work through a broker, the end result would be cheaper freight costs and the truck would receive more of the total bill. By eliminating the middle man, the shipper and the truck could split the difference and both be better off in the end.

There are many issues that are causing problems for the trucking industry right now. Brokers sitting at home with a stack of business cards, an internet connection and a fax machine, is just one of them.

. . . but what do I know. :cool-smiley-011:

also new refining technologies allow them to pull more gasoline from a barrel of crude, which they sell more of, hence the supply of diesel is low and demand high and we all know who is charge in that scenario

Jeff I thought you got rid of the Freightliner and driving co. truck?

In ILL they blocked up the 3rd lane and shut it down the State troopers showed up and wrote all them $ 75.00 tickets .... Truckers lost again and the friggin ( STATE ) Troopers raked it in WTF :D :D
ROCK ON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"On New Jersey's Turnpike, southbound rigs "as far as the eye can see" were moving at about 20 mph near Newark, said Turnpike Authority spokesman Joe Orlando. Other truckers had gathered at a service area near Newark chanting and protesting.

Outside Chicago, three truck drivers were ticketed for impeding traffic on Interstate 55, driving three abreast at low speeds, said Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Luis Gutierrez."

I'm not a trucker but I do understand your plight. Having said that I don't see how pizzing off the 9-5 commuters who are also bearing the brunt of high gasoline prices is going to help the cause.

Good For You Guys! The Only Way the Message will be Listened to, is When AMERICA is Shut DOWN! If the Trucks dont move, neither does America! You have my support!

Jr.

Since a trucker blocked me this afternoon, I've decided that all gasoline and diesel fuel is now going to cost 50 cents a gallon.

See, it worked.

we should support farmers producing soybeans for biodiesel and corn for ethanol, not as an additive but as a renewable source of energy and replacement for fossil fuels. It would also help us get out of the middle east mess!

Chris its still $3.99 in NJ dd you only lower it in Ohio:D

Nice comment there. My trucks will be running and making money. I'm going to tell my shippers that we're on strike , yea right?

Exactly! We've been down this road before!

It takes fossil fuel products to fertilize and manage and deliver those crops, and then they need to be processed. Bio fuels will never be 'renewable' as such. We need to look further ahead than bio fuels. At the rate we are going, every forest and jungle on earth will be stripped to grow those bio resources. Then what?

They probably didn't get the memo yet.

Not true. Farm fuel production can far exceed the present oil production rate.

All that has done is increase the cost of agricultural products (food). Our sources of methanol base stocks (primarily corn) are ineffective both in the nature of the base, it's agricultural cycle and it's net yield. Basically it's not economically feasible.

On the other hand, Central and S. American cane-based ethanol is promising. It grows fast and has a high yield. Their climate is wonderful for it- lots of sun and long growing seasons. The only problem is that we have no congressmen representing 3rd world agribusiness. As such, we not only are subsidizing the American farmer, we have a protectionist tariff on the imported ethanol that makes it economically uncompetitive.

Please get right on that. I've got W's number if you need it. :hitfan:

Here's a breakdown on ethanol-
(Please pardon the cut-n-paste)

Let's start with the math. Corn doesn't grow like a weed. Modern corn farming involves heavy inputs of nitrogen fertilizer (made with natural gas), applications of herbicides and other chemicals (made mostly from oil), heavy machinery (which runs on diesel) and transportation (diesel again). Converting the corn into fuel requires still more energy. The ratio of how much energy is used to make ethanol versus how much it delivers is known as the energy balance, and calculating it is surprisingly complex.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory states that, "Today, 1 Btu of fossil energy consumed in producing and delivering corn ethanol results in 1.3 Btu of usable energy in your fuel tank." Even that modest payback may be overstated. Skeptics cite the research of Cornell Uni?versity professor David Pimentel, who estimates that it takes approximately 1.3 gal. of oil to produce a single gallon of ethanol.

If the benefits are in doubt, the costs are not. It would take 450 pounds of corn to yield enough ethanol to fill the tank of an SUV. Producing enough ethanol to replace America's imported oil alone would require putting nearly 900 million acres under cultivation,or roughly 95 percent of the active farmland in the country. Once we've turned our farms into filling stations, where will the food come from?

I'm going to invest in banana farms with the expectation that when the banana republics fail as predicted, I'll already be geared up for cane-based ethanol production. Of course this will probably be my epitaph because I should be getting picked off by one of the big oil companies' "cleaners". Could I get an order in for one of those H&K's for personal protection?

How about something that does grow like a weed and is much more efficient for production of larger hydrocarbons (such as prairie grass)? That grows great in colder climates with very little energy expenditure.

If only it was that simple......

DUMB? Man that just irks me when that comment is made. What about the DUMB motorist that have no clue on what it takes to stop 80,000lbs? These DUMB truck drivers make it possible for most everything in your household or business. These DUMB truck drivers are idling their trucks to stay warm or cool to enjoy a good sleep. Gen sets are expensive and most O/O's are unable to afford the initial cost to kep their overhead down for obvious reasons.
Who is the first responders at 2am when a bunch of drunk teenagers flip into the median? These DUMB truck drivers devote time away from their families to provide neccessities for everyone especially for people that call them DUMB.