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\nDanniverke Carriers owner Nigel Castles expects further price rises for fuel are inevitable.
\nPhoto: 123rf\n<\/p>\n
A rural transport company carting stock to the meat works could not get the fuel it needed at two North Island commercial truck stops.<\/p>\n
Pumps ran dry in Wairoa and Eltham on Thursday when the Stephenson Transport truck and trailer units from Central Hawke’s Bay were on a freezing works run.<\/p>\n
Owner Bruce Stephenson said it was a situation he had never faced during his seven decades in the business.<\/p>\n
“We had stock trucks on the road obviously all over the place. We couldn’t get fuel in Wairoa and we couldn’t get fuel in Eltham,” he said.<\/p>\n
“They were loaded with stock heading to the works, so we had to stretch things out a bit – it gets a bit tricky when you’re doing that sort of thing.”<\/p>\n
He fielded phone calls from his concerned drivers wondering what to do next.<\/p>\n
“I’m talking about truck stops where we fuel up and where we get our contract prices from. That’s where access is relatively easy for a big truck and trailers with crates on.<\/p>\n
“So we had to go to service stations and find one we could get under the canopy of.”<\/p>\n
Dannevirke Carriers owner Nigel Castles was also coping with the swiftly evolving situation.<\/p>\n
His company also carted stock around the country and he was concerned about the massive spike in prices.<\/p>\n
And his family-owned business could not absorb the soaring fuel prices alone.<\/p>\n
He was reluctantly passing these increases on to farmers and estimated his fuel bill was up 20 percent from the start of the year.<\/p>\n
The company filled its tanks last week, and he hoped the next delivery would arrive in a week.<\/p>\n
With no signs of tensions easing in the Middle East, he expected further price rises for fuel were inevitable.<\/p>\n
“The next lot of fuel supply is actually going to go up again,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Definitely out on farm there’s a lot of worry, and as transporters we certainly don’t want to come to a grinding halt either.”<\/p>\n