4 minEconomy
Truckers Warn Soaring Diesel Prices Could Force Small Operators Off the Road
American truckers say diesel at more than $6 a gallon is squeezing profits, prompting route cuts and fears of a domino effect that could eventually reach consumers.
American truck drivers are warning that record-high diesel prices are eroding their profits and forcing trucking companies to scale back routes, with smaller operators at risk of being pushed off the road entirely. The national average for diesel stood at roughly $6.32 per gallon, up from about $3.69 a year earlier — a jump of more than 70%, according to AAA. The surge has surpassed the previous record of $5.816 per gallon set in June 2022.
«Fuel prices is going up, the rates are not going up,» said Suave Dorsett, a Miami-based trucker of nine years. «So it's hurting our pockets real bad.» Dorsett said he saw diesel at $7.40 per gallon while traveling through Ohio. He predicted that smaller owner-operators will be the first to buckle, creating a «domino effect» that could eventually pressure larger carriers.
Tyler Rinaldi, a Louisiana trucker with about a decade of experience hauling hazardous materials for an LTL company, said his employer has already cut weekend routes. «I've seen a lot of routes get cut,» he said. «They're not really running like they want to on the weekends right now.» Rinaldi, who is married with two children, said fewer routes mean less money coming home. «When they start cutting routes and trying to limit the expenses on what routes they send out, that takes away from the people that work in the company's pockets.»
Avante Jackson, an 11-year trucking veteran from Charlotte, North Carolina, who transports steel and construction materials, said the price spike forces drivers to question whether their revenue can sustain their businesses. «If I'm putting all of my profit in the tank, at the end of the day, what do I have left to keep the doors open?» Jackson cautioned against fear-mongering about shortages but said a widespread loss of drivers could ultimately reach consumers. «It really could hit the community,» he said.
The current crunch echoes the diesel spike of 2022, when the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent fuel prices soaring. Diesel reached a then-record national average of $5.82 per gallon that June. According to the American Transportation Research Institute, trucking fuel costs surged 53.7% in 2022, helping drive a 21.3% jump in overall operating costs to a then-record $2.25 per mile. The latest spike threatens to revive those pressures, particularly for smaller operators with less room to absorb rising fuel bills.
Drivers said the fuel spike compounds a long list of existing expenses, including diesel exhaust fluid, parking, showers, weighing and reweighing loads, repairs and towing. Dorsett said that if prices remain elevated, smaller companies will slowly fall off, creating a chain effect that could eventually put pressure on larger carriers.
As the Trump administration pushes international partners to release emergency fuel reserves, truckers have a message for the president. «My message to President Trump would just be to think about who's keeping America moving,» Jackson said. «Think about the little guys out here each and every day.» He added, «We truly are the backbone of America, we keep America moving. We just want you just to think about us and put yourself in our shoes. Let's try to get the fuel prices down and let's try to just make more of a change. We know we can do better.»
Trump defended higher fuel prices as a temporary sacrifice in the fight to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, saying on Truth Social that rising gasoline costs were «a small price to pay for Iran not having a Nuclear Weapon.» He also said European countries had agreed to release diesel from their stockpiles after he pressed them to put more supply on the market.
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