Strong demand for transportation services means trucking companies can pass their costs on through higher freight rates - and costs are expected to increase again with the new year, when stricter federal emissions standards for diesel engines take effect. Big trucks built after this deadline will be slightly less fuel efficient and cost up to 10 percent more.
Across the nation, truck dealers are seeing a scramble to buy up the current supply of engines in advance of the new Environmental Protection Agency rules. The Wall Street Journal reported that sales of heavy trucks are expected to reach 284,000 this year - the highest number ever, and roughly double the number sold in 2001. But the nation's dealers are anticipating a 40 percent drop in sales for 2007.
The slowdown at Montana Trucks and Forklift will likely be delayed, he said, because the company plans to continue shipping out its supply of engines through July and because the kind of trucks it sells - the type primarily used for construction - won't see the same price jumps as the long-distance haulers.
“The major fleets, they definitely have been buying trucks like crazy,” Botsford said.
At Jim Palmer Trucking, fuel coordinator Bill Davis said his company recently underwent a number of equipment upgrades and bought a lot of trucks in anticipation of the change, but it won't refrain from purchasing a truck or 10 in the new year.
The fleet at Jim Palmer includes about 380 trucks and as many drivers, making the company a top 20 private employer in Missoula County. In fact, two of the county's top 20 private employers are trucking companies; the other is Watkins & Shepard Trucking.
The Montana Motor Carriers Association estimates that in Montana, roughly 35,000 people - or one in 13 workers - are employed in the trucking industry, which pays average wages of about $40,000.
“It's been an up-and-down industry, but the companies that are left are the companies that have good programs and have the industry down to a fine-tooth comb,” said the association's executive director, Barry “Spook” Stang.
In addition to the new engine rules, trucking companies are also calculating the cost of new ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel standards that went into effect Oct. 1. The 2007 diesel engines are built so they will only accept ultra-low-sulfur fuel, a fuel that many operators are concerned puts increased wear on their rigs.
Further, as more of the new engines are put into use, the price of diesel could increase. Most fleets average between 5 and 7 miles to the gallon, Davis said. If the price of fuel increases by even a few cents, that adds up tremendously.
“We'll pay for it one way or another,” he said. “The cost will filter through the economy.”
From candy bars to basketballs, nearly everything in the relatively rural state of Montana is delivered by truck, Stang pointed out: “There isn't any door-to-door rail service.”
Indeed, the Governor's Office on Economic Development estimates that more than 82 percent of all manufactured goods moved into or out of Montana are transported by truck.
“Obviously, if the cost of delivering the goods goes up, the guy at the end has to pay for it,” Stang said. “Somebody's got to pay for that, and usually it's the people picking the groceries off the shelves.”
Sten Sohlberg, president of Jones Bros. Trucking, said that while he's definitely taking the possibility of lost mileage into consideration, he's more concerned about performance.
After the last EPA engine standards adjustment in 2003, he didn't see any measurable change in fuel mileage. He did, however, notice the trucks didn't hold up as well.
“The new equipment that was put on there was not thought through very well,” said Sohlberg, whose company runs 45 trucks and usually purchases another every year or so. “It wasn't engineered to last and there were lots of problems, lots of breakdowns.”
He doesn't know if reliability will be a problem this time around - but he'd rather not be the first to find out.
“I would just kind of (rather) somebody else have the problems first and see if the engine manufacturers can get the problem fixed by the time we have to buy new vehicles,” he said.
It seems manufacturers are always adding new technology to rigs, said Roger Sundstadt, an instructor and administrator at Sage Technical Truck Driving School, a nationwide operation that got its start in Billings.
The Missoula school owns and maintains two 1994-model trucks.
“Of course, these are training vehicles,” Sundstadt said. “Teaching a student to drive is very hard on a truck.”
More manufacturers are putting monitoring and automating equipment on their big rigs with the idea of decreasing driver-caused wear and tear, said Sundstadt, who counts more than 30 years as a professional truck driver.
“From my experience in the industry, trucking has grown in a technological manner leaps and bounds over the last five-year period,” he said. “All of the accessories on these engines nowadays have switches on them. The vehicle does it on its own, therefore conserving valuable rpm and fuel.”
The vast majority of today's trucks use satellite-tracking technology, he said. Some fleets can even be controlled remotely through GPS. Companies can monitor how many times the drivers touch the brake, how often and how long the truck idles - and more.
“Most of the trucks out there now are electronic,” Sundstadt said. “They can be monitored in all way, shapes and forms.”
Yet the average cost of a new rig hasn't gone up all that much, he said. The typical price has hovered around $100,000 for some years now. What has changed - for the better - is the trucking industry's contribution to the nation's air pollution.
“Back in the day, if we didn't see black smoke and flames coming out of the stack we didn't think they were working,” Sundstadt said.
The new diesel engines run cleaner than those that take regular gas, Botsford said. “You will not even be able to smell diesel when it's running.”
And though some grumble over the increased costs associated with meeting environmental guidelines, most realize it's a long-term investment in the future, he said.
“We've got to do it,” Botsford said. “You and I will be fine, but what about our great-great-grandkids? We've got to do something, and this is one of the things we can do.”
Reporter Tyler Christensen can be reached at 523-5215 or at tyler.christensen@lee.net
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