Diesel Prices Continue to Slip

The average price per gallon of diesel gasoline fell 0.7 cents this week to $3.911 per gallon, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration.

This marks the sixth straight weekly decline and the 11th time in the past 12 weeks the average price has fallen. And it follows a 0.5 percent dip to $3.918 per gallon last week and a 2.2 cent decline the prior week.

Since reaching a more than four-year weekly high of $4.15 per gallon the week of October 15, diesel prices have gone down a cumulative 23.9 cents. What’s more, prices have been below the $4 per gallon mark for five consecutive weeks and seven of the last eight weeks.

The average price per gallon is up 8.3 cents compared to a year ago at this time.

In its recently updated short-term energy outlook, the EIA is calling for diesel prices to average $3.97 per gallon in 2012 and $3.84 in 2013, with WTI crude oil is expected to hit $94.26 per barrel in 2012 and $88.38 in 2013.

As previously reported, regardless of the fluctuation in diesel prices, shippers are cognizant of the impact diesel prices can have on their bottom line—for better or worse.

And they continue to be proactive on that front, too, by taking steps to reduce mileage and transit lengths when possible as well as cut down on empty miles.

And even through shippers want to adjust budgets in order to offset the increased costs higher fuel prices bring, it is not always an easy thing to manage.

The focus from a supply chain management perspective, according to shippers, is more on utilization and efficiency by doing things like driving empty miles out of transportation networks.

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