In The News

Diesel slips for third week, down 4 cents to $3.894

The turnover rate for truckload drivers at large fleets rose to 89% in the third quarter of 2011, the fourth straight quarterly increase, an indication of increased demand and competition for drivers, according to the American Trucking Associations.

"Clearly, due to the economic recovery, as well as regulatory factors like CSA, we are seeing the market for good, quality drivers tighten," said ATA Chief Economist Bob Cost Costello. "Freight continues to rise, so we expect the need for quality drivers to become more acute going forward, particularly if regulations either force current drivers out of the industry or force fleets to put more trucks on the road."

The third-quarter increase follows a previously reported turnover rate of 79% in the second quarter of the year and sets the benchmark rate at its highest level since the first quarter of 2008.

Since bottoming out in the first quarter of 2010, the turnover rate has risen 50 percentage points and has averaged 81% so far this year.

The turnover rate at small truckload fleets jumped 10 points to 57%, the highest level since the third quarter of 2008, and less-than-truckload turnover remained extremely low at just 10%.WASHINGTON — The average price for a gallon of diesel has dropped almost four more cents, and three straight weekly declines make fuel cheaper than it’s been since early November.

The nationwide retail on-highway price for a gallon of diesel was $3.894, down 3.7 cents, according to the Dec. 12 report by the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy.

The Midwest saw the biggest regional decline, down 5.9 cents.

The West Coast, which saw diesel fall 4.4 cents for the week, still had the highest regional price at $ 4.061, though the state premium in California brought the cost of a gallon of diesel there to $4.122.

The Gulf Coast region had the lowest average price, $3.794.

Diesel prices nationally are up 66.3 cents a gallon from a year ago.

For a complete list of the last three weeks by region, click here.

Kevin Jones of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at [email protected] .

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