Valley transportation companies are feeling the impact of high diesel prices

Fresno, Calif. (KFSN) — In the U.S., demand for diesel is rising, supplies are shrinking, and local trucking companies say high prices have hit hard.

Diesel is the primary fuel used to power the trucks, trains and ships that transport your food and household goods across the country.

Here in the Valley, Dale Mendoza has been keeping truckers on the road for over 52 years with his company, Quali-T-Ruck Service.

He says it used to cost them $300 to fill up a truck, but now it costs $600 to $700.

“There is a lot of demand for diesel and a lot of demand from drivers,” he said. “We really lack drivers and supply.”

The Energy Information Administration says the U.S. has only a 25-day supply of distillates, which include jet fuel and fuel oil, as well as diesel.

Mendoza says he’s never seen a situation this serious in his decades of business.

“Prices are just completely out of control,” he said. “We can’t meet the requirements to get enough money for what we’re doing at the price we have to pay for fuel.”

Up the road is a trucking school – the Institute of Advanced Training.

Everett Yockett is the director of operations and says they have had to increase the amount of time students spend in the trucks due to federal and state regulations, which means they burn more fuel for the same number of students.

“It’s squeezing a very small supply,” he said. “The margin was never great to begin with, but this just squeezes it a little bit more. All we can do is get through this year, hope for next year and maybe fuel prices will come down.”