‘Maybe we just call it quits’; North Carolina truckers find filling up with diesel hard to swallow

NORTH CAROLINA (WNCN) — For some truckers in North Carolina, diesel prices are becoming unbearable. An independent trucker told CBS 17 he’s losing more money on the road than anywhere else.

“The prices are skyrocketing, and we still don’t get good prices for the loads,” Michal Agboire said, who works for Maitland Trucking.

He said it costs about $800 to fill up his 18-wheeler tank each time. Today, the national average for diesel reached an all-time high of $5.16 per gallon.

Additionally, truck drivers along Insterstate 95 are spending upwards of $5.29 per gallon.

“Things at the grocery store will be more expensive because of diesel. Taking a cruise is going to be more expensive. Getting on a plane is going to be more expensive. Filling up is going to be more expensive,” Patrick DeHaan, the head petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, said.

DeHaan said demand is outpacing supply as the trucking, airline and cruise industries pick up the pace.

“I really don’t see the situation improving drastically anytime soon,” DeHaan said. “It certainly will take time and additional refining capacity to boost up the supply of diesel and jet fuel back to adequate levels.”

DeHaan said how long prices stay up is contingent on how long the war in Ukraine will last, too. That influences how long sanctions against Russia will remain in place.

Truckers we spoke to are hoping for relief at the pump comes sooner rather than later, despite what DeHaan said.

“If it goes any higher than this, and the price of the load not coming up, then maybe we just call it quits,” Agboire said.

Although the cost of fuel is very unpredictable, experts think the high prices could stick around at least until the fall.

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