Diesel prices fall for the sixth straight week, reports EIA

Diesel prices took a downward turn for the sixth straight week, falling 2.1 cents to $3.817 per gallon, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The 2.1 cent drop marks the steepest decline of the year to date.

In the previous five weeks, prices dropped 0.3 cents, 0.8 cents, 2 cents, 1.1 cents, and 1 cent, respectively, over the previous five weeks for a cumulative 7.3 cent decline.

The four straight weeks of declines were preceded by a two-week stretch which saw prices rise a cumulative 4.5 cents. And 2 cent decline two weeks ago was the largest decline since a 3.6 cent decline during the week of April 29, according to EIA data.

Prior to the two-week stretch of increases, diesel prices declined for ten straight weeks and dropped a cumulative 31.4 cents. Prior to the previous ten weeks of declining prices, diesel prices rose a cumulative 26.5 cents over a six week span. And on an annual basis, the average price per gallon is up 16.9 cents.

Regardless of the fluctuation in diesel prices, shippers are cognizant of the impact diesel prices can have on their bottom line—for better or worse.

And they continue to be proactive on that front, too, by taking steps to reduce mileage and transit lengths when possible as well as cut down on empty miles. And even through shippers want to adjust budgets in order to offset the increased costs higher fuel prices bring, it is not always an easy thing to manage.

Shippers have told LM that adjusting budgets is only part of the solution when it comes to dealing—and living—with fuel price fluctuation. 

UPS Freight President Jack Holmes said at the eyefortransport 3PL Summit that
fuel increases too need to be taken into account as part of the shipper-carrier relationship.

“A carrier who is a partner simply passing expenses on to [a shipper] is not in my opinion a carrier you want to do business with,” said Holmes. “The one you want to do business with is the one who will tell you ‘this is what has happened and here is what we will do to mitigate that expense’ and hopefully you do things on fuel efficiency and idle time that get you closer to negating the impact of those things on your business but those are the differences between a vendor relationship and a partner relationship—which does things to help each other.”