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[JHeath]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=13419

5/14/2008 10:40:00 AM
Gas Pains
Over-the-road truckers can pay more than $1,000 to fill up vehicles.
COOLSPRING TOWNSHIP - Peter Hoekmeijer's new Volvo semi tractor can fit a family of four inside and makes driving loads across North America as comfortable as sitting in an easy chair watching television.

He hopes it cuts down on his fuel costs, as well.

"It's probably not the best time to be doing it, but I bought the new truck to save some money," he said Tuesday as he stood outside Gas City truck stop on U.S. 421. "The new motor is more fuel efficient and there's less money to spend on maintenance."

Hoekmeijer and his father, Jack, count themselves among the truck drivers being hardest hit by the rising costs of fuel in the U.S. and in Canada, where both live.

As owner/operators of their twin Volvo tractors, the two spend more than $1,000 each time they fill up their trucks. With diesel fuel at $4.22 in Michigan City on Tuesday, the hardship on drivers who have to pay their own freight gets worse every day.

And it's not just over-the-road truck drivers feeling the pinch, either. The price for unleaded fuel surpassed $4 a gallon in Michigan City for the fire time on Tuesday.

At many stations on Franklin Street, the price was $4.05 a gallon.

Both feel that for truckers, exceptions should be made.

"I don't know what's going on," Jack Hoekmeijer said while standing next to his maroon Volvo tractor. "We live here. We do our jobs here. We should be able to live on what we make without having it all go away to pay for gas."

High fuel prices, the Hoekmeijers said, aren't exclusive to the United States. In Ontario, where the men live, fuel is similarly high, with diesel costing "about two dimes more," Jack said.

In their native Holland - from where the family moved in 2001 - gas prices are upwards of $7 or $8.

The high prices, Peter said, are nearly making his profession financially unworkable.

"It's cutting into our pay pretty good," he said. "The prices we can charge don't go up like gas prices do. You just can't do that. It's a circle. Manufacturing slows, which means transport slows, all because gas prices are so high.

"But you've gotta keep trucking."

Peter said the price of diesel in Canada currently is around $5 per gallon.

Rick Johnson, who drives a smaller truck for a company based in South Bend, said he feels for people like the Hoekmeijers.

"My company works with one contract. They negotiate the price," said Johnson, who drives for River Bend Hose Specialty. "It's the owner/operators that are really getting killed. They've got no one to negotiate price for them. They're the ones you should feel sorry for."



Contact reporter Jason Miller at jmiller@thenewsdispatch.com.