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Issue 14 Do you have a friend or colleague who would like to receive this eFlash, click here. |
The average price of U.S. retail diesel rose 5.9 cents to $2.407 a gallon, just 0.1 cent behind the all-time record set July 11, and gasoline prices surged to a record high, as reported by the Department of Energy earlier this week.
The national average gasoline price rose 7.7 cents to $2.368 a gallon, 4 cents over the $2.328 record also set July 11, DOE said following its weekly survey of filling stations.
While regional diesel average prices rose in all five regions surveyed, they were led by huge spikes in the West Coast and in California, which DOE breaks out separately from the national regions.
The West Coast average jumped 20.7 cents to $2.801, while California’s leaped 28.6 cents to $2.943 a gallon. Since May 30, the West Coast price has risen 48.4 cents and California’s has soared 57.6 cents. These increases have a direct impact to FMI’s Fuel Surcharge table.
The national average diesel price increase was the second straight following two weeks of declines. The national average price has risen in 22 of 32 weeks this year, with the low price of $1.934 set on Jan. 10.
The national average for fuel is 59.3 cents over the same time period last year, adding $118.60 to the cost of a 200-gallon big-rig fill-up.
The West Coast diesel price is 77.1 cents over last year, which would add $154.20 to a fill-up, while California’s price, 83 cents higher, would add $166 more to a trucker's bill for a fill-up this year.
The East Coast diesel average rose 3 cents, the smallest weekly increase of the regions, to $2.386, and the Rocky Mountain price rose 6.5 cents to $2.486.
Each week DOE surveys 350 filling stations to compile a national snapshot retail price.
Container import traffic is growing in the Southern California ports, but congestion is less troublesome than last year at the nation's busiest ports.
In a new monthly survey by the National Retail Federation, dockside conditions improved at U.S. ports, which handled 1.23 million TEUs in June, up 11.2 percent from the same month in 2004.
The NRF, which represents retailers with $4.1 trillion in annual sales, found that 75 percent of the nation's major ports showed low levels of congestion, with no serious congestion, delays or diversion of cargo anticipated. The remaining 25 percent had medium congestion, which indicates a warning of potential congestion at the port, or connecting road and rail services.
The group's monthly Port Tracker looks at inbound container volume, the availability of trucks and railroad cars to move cargo out of the ports, labor conditions and other factors that affect cargo movement.
"It's a relief not to have merchandise piling up on the dock," said NRF Vice President and International Trade Counsel Erik Autor. "We have more cargo coming in than last year, largely because of the end of textile and apparel quotas, but it's flowing much more smoothly from the ships to the stores than we saw in 2004. We're about to enter the peak of the shipping cycle for the holiday season, so this is good news."
The association expects to see significant increases in inbound container volumes in the next six months at Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma, and slow, flat growth in LA-Long Beach. Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma are seeing increases due to shifting operating patterns of carriers and expanded facilities. New York-New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston and Savannah will experience increasing inbound container volume more strongly than West Coast ports because of increased use of all-water services from Asia through the Panama and Suez canals, driven in part by the development of distribution centers.
The report found that the average train speeds for most railroads were about the same as a year ago, but with significant growth in the number of intermodal cars available.
In LA-Long Beach, the new PierPass program has shifted some traffic to night and weekend gates, lessening peak weekday traffic. However, highway capacity remains a problem in the New York-New Jersey area.
©2005 FMI International