On October 1, 2013, the United States Federal government entered a shutdown that lasted just over two weeks. In that time, 800,000 employees were out of work, and a lot of others were forced to work without pay. Now that we’ve had some time to let the government shutdown sink in, let’s reflect how it affected the trucking industry.
You may be surprised to hear this, but the U.S. military has a pretty large presence in transportation. According to the ATA, they spent $1.9 billion on truck transportation within the U.S. last year. Although the shutdown was only two weeks, imagine some of the smaller fleets this affected; trucking companies that do 70% of their work for the military. ABF is a frequent transporter of military products, but they’re a fleet of almost 4,000 units. They conduct business in many industries and are not going to take as drastic of a hit as a fleet with 40 units.
Banking was another area. Imagine all of the loans that were put on hold. I personally saw this impact a private fleet we manage. In the midst of switching banks, their ability to get some rather easy thing accomplished was delayed. This impeded thousands of dollars of savings on a program we helped establish for their fuel.
Speaking of fuel, prices seemed to come down after the shutdown was through. Diesel declined across the U.S. from $3.91 to $3.87 during the month of October. On October 1st crude oil opened at just under $102. The 16th of October it was just over $101, and November 4th it opened at $94.52. We are now in heating oil season so many expect this number to rise in a few weeks. Talk to Sokolis to see if you should be locking in your fuel anytime soon.
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