It’s no secret the high cost of fuel is adding big bucks to freight bills… and that’s assuming you can find a truck!  Mike Turner at Motrux forwarded these photos yesterday illustrating one mill’s desperate attempts to get lumber rolling (published here with permission from Gilbert Smith Forest Products in Barriere, BC).

Mike cites many reasons for the declining number of Super-B’s in particular on the road today, summarized by 1) no new young drivers – despite lots of added incentives offered by companies to attract new drivers, people are reluctant to embark on a career where they’ll be away from family, on the road for weeks at a time and 2) prohibitive operating costs – Super-B fuel for two round trips across Canada (typical monthly distance) presently costs up to $17,000!  To reduce costs, owner/operators are switching to smaller trucks; interestingly as a result, the supply of tri-axles is growing.