London, UK: The rising cost of diesel has been highlighted by a director of Freight Link Europe, who told the BBC that it was costing £20,000 more to run a truck than a year ago.
Lesley O’Brien told the Today programme that fuel was a third of her business’ running costs. This time last year, it was costing the company about £41,000 a year in fuel to run an average artic, but with diesel prices soaring it now costs more than £61,000 a year.
“This certainly is a crisis as we’ve seen fuel prices escalate over the last year by 50% and no sight of a stop, so we absolutely as an industry need to keep on top of this,” O’Brien told Today.
She explained that her company added a fuel surcharge to its invoices, to cover fluctuating prices. “But never before has it been so high,” she said.
Cold Chain Federation chief executive Shane Brennan Tweeted: “This cost (fuel) has to be passed on and it adds to inflation across all supply chains, especially food.”
According to an article in the Guardian, spiralling diesel prices are down to a number of factors, including an increase in road transport activities, concerns over exports to Europe from Russia, shutdowns in the US and lower refinery runs in China.
