Truckies, taxi drivers feel pressure

REON SUDDABY AND NZPA
Mike Jenkins has been in the transport business for 33 years, and describes the current business climate as "the most difficult time I've ever had".
Mr Jenkins manages Frasertown-based Kiwi Transport, just one of many Bay businesses feeling the heat as commercial and industrial fuel prices continue to skyrocket.
At midnight, Caltex put up its petrol prices by 7c a litre, while diesel jumped 9c a litre, for commercial and industrial road users.
Caltex spokeswoman Sharon Buckland said the past 10 days had seen a steady and relentless increase in the international price of refined fuel.
Ms Buckland said the international price of refined product had gone up $10 a barrel, which put huge pressure on the retail price.
BP spokeswoman Diana Stretch said it was unusual for commercial prices to rise before retail - generally speaking it was the other way around.
With the increases over the past 10 days, BP was monitoring the situation daily.
She could not say if or when BP would raise its prices.
Spokesmen for Shell and Mobil were unavailable for comment. Mr Jenkins said Kiwi Transport was a Caltex customer, and he expected the other fuel companies would follow Caltex's example and put their prices up.
Mr Jenkins said fuel was now accounting for 20 percent of Kiwi Transport's turnover.
"We're probably doing record turnover now, but at the end of the month there's nothing left" he said.
Several months ago Kiwi Transport was forced to upgrade their charges by about six percent, in response to increased fuel prices.
The latest round of price hikes meant the company would this week again have to reassess its charges, Mr Jenkins said.
Baywide Taxi driver Vanessa Johnson said the current situation was "not good for her".
Miss Johnson said Baywide Taxis had been forced to increase their fares up to compensate for the fuel-price increases. However she said they told their customers of the reason for the rise, and most of them were understanding.
"It's actually quite good - they understand," she said. Although Baywide Taxis did not buy its fuel from Caltex, Miss Johnson expected the other fuel companies would also raise their prices.
She thought fuel prices would continue to fluctuate over the coming months.
Mark Scofield manages Peter Baker Transport and PBT Couriers, and said while the company did not deal with Caltex, he did not think it would save them from the price rise.
"Everyone does the same thing - it's just a matter of minutes between them," he said.
Mr Scofield said the impact of the fuel price increase was twofold - it put pressure on the company's contractors, and the cost was eventually passed on to the customer.
It was "most likely" the company's charges would now be increased, he said. An 8 percent cost increase was "pretty significant", and was not always immediately recovered, Mr Scofield said.