Texas truckers warn of parked rigs, empty shelves until 2023

The Texas Trucking Association and owner operators themselves are warning Texans about the possibility of empty shelves as fuel prices continue to rise, pricing shippers and owner operators out of loads. 

“These days, fuel and tires is getting up there, if not getting more expensive for trucking companies,” said the President of Texas Trucking Association John Esparza to CBS DFW.

“If you’re an independent operator imagine, you know, having your greatest expenses aren’t yourself in terms of what you need to make a living.”

“It comes out of our profit. If you make $3,000, you’ve got to know $700 of that is coming out of your profit,” said Houston trucker Raymond Mayberry, who’s been trucking since 2003. 

“When I first started, diesel was $.99.”

“These customers, they want to pay you the same amount they paid you six, seven months ago. They can’t do it. And me, I’ll let my truck sit,” Mayberry continued to KHOU 11, pointing out that, with the cost of fuel continuously rising, these days drivers have no way to know how much it will cost to get themselves home. 

Esparza says that between the industry’s attempt to deal with a driver shortage, supply chain issues, and the cost of fuel, trucking conditions may not start to improve until 2023. 

“At the end of the day what it means to you and me and your audiences out there is that it’s going to cost more for the things that we need,” Esparza said. “Whether it’s at the grocery store, or at the retail facility, right to anything that’s delivered to you at your doorstep.”