Local trucking company managing as diesel prices soar

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — With diesel prices continuing to soar, those in the trucking industry are feeling the hit.

“Typically our drivers, you know, depending what their trips are, they’re filling up, putting in 200 gallons,” CEO of Lenoard’s Express Ken Johnson said. “So at two bucks a gallon, it’s 400 bucks and $6 dollars a gallon and 200 gallons is 1200 bucks. So, you know, that’s a big number.”

Leonard’s Express has more than 600 trucks that are on the roads, getting people refrigerated products. Johnson said they put their budget together for contracts and customers but says he doesn’t think they expected this level of extreme.

“As a matter of fact, I asked our sales team Tuesday when the price came out. I said do our scales get in over $6 a gallon. Who would have anticipated that? When, you know, two years ago or three years ago when it was a buck 90 or two bucks a gallon?” Johnson said.

Johnson said while the cost of filling up depends on where you go, right now they have a green, yellow and red system in place to make sure drivers get where they need to go.

“The green are fill up when you’re in the area, yellow is get what you need to make sure you can get to the next step and then red is you know, minimize, the gallons.” Johnson said. “And that changes constantly based on situations like this.”

He said right now they are managing but thinks it will hit them hard if it keeps surging and has some concerns about possible shortages.

“We’ve had contacts from our suppliers that say that our supply is good, but there is a shortage, especially in the northeast,” So we’ll keep you informed and try to make sure, you know, if there’s any pending shortages, that to me is a bigger fear, than the price,” Johnson said.

Click here for News10NBC Anchor and Consumer Investigator Deanna Dewberry’s tips on saving money at the pump.