As the war with Iran continues to roil global energy markets, Maine’s logging and trucking industries are among those feeling the squeeze from rising fuel prices.
The price of diesel in Maine has jumped by more than 30% in the last month, to an average of just over $5.70 per gallon, according to the AAA fuel price tracker.
Brian Parke, president of the Maine Motor Transport Association, said in a state where about 85% of freight is moved by truck, those price increases will get passed along to consumers.
“There’s not much in your home that doesn’t come by truck,” Parke said. “So yeah, the impact is going to hit everyone.”
Dana Doran, executive director of the trade group Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast, said loggers are also having to absorb that extra cost as they wrap up the winter harvest.
“Contractors are taking it on the chin right now,” Doran said. “Hopefully, when we get to May and June, if this continues, I think that the mills are going to have no choice but to try to offset some of this diesel cost and increase the price they’re paying for wood.”
Doran said if fuel prices remain elevated, it could drive up the cost of other petroleum products such as lubricants, grease, and engine oil, compounding the financial strain for loggers.
Diesel prices are still lower than they were in 2022, during the energy shock that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
