{"id":224669,"date":"2021-04-30T16:19:17","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T21:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=224669"},"modified":"2021-05-02T11:09:42","modified_gmt":"2021-05-02T16:09:42","slug":"summer-gasoline-shortages-likely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=224669","title":{"rendered":"Summer gasoline shortages likely"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"(NBC\u00a0 News)\u00a0 More than a year after the U.S. was forced into lock down by the pandemic, Americans are taking to the road again, whether returning to work or taking long-delayed vacations \u2014 but travel plans could be disrupted in the months ahead due to the possibility of gasoline shortages.<\/p>\n

Unlike the twin oil shocks of the 1970s, petroleum today is in abundant supply. What has become scarce are the drivers needed to get fuel from refineries to service stations. According to one trade group, almost one-quarter of the country\u2019s tanker trucks are currently idled because there\u2019s no one to put behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrucking\u2019s driver shortage already exceeds 50,000 drivers,\u201d wrote National Tank Truck Carriers, an industry trade group, in a recent report. That\u2019s only part of the problem, the NTTC adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trucking industry\u2019s workforce shortage is not confined to drivers alone,\u201d the group said. \u201cTrucking companies also require dispatchers and back office staff. Trained mechanics are also in short supply. Tank truck operations face further critical shortages of registered inspectors and design-certified engineers who can inspect and repair cargo tank truck trailers.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the pandemic hit, America went into lockdown. Millions lost their jobs and many more started working from home. The travel industry took a big hit while traffic in major markets like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York fell by as much as 80 percent through the spring, according to tracking service TomTom.<\/p>\n

For those who were still on the road, the good news was that fuel prices dropped to as little as $1 a gallon in some parts of the country. But prices have been on the rise as more and more Americans have begun driving again. More Americans traveled by car over the Easter and Passover holidays than during any holiday since the pandemic began. On Wednesday, AAA reported that the average motorist is now paying $2.88 for a gallon of unleaded regular. And experts forecast the upward trend will continue.<\/p>\n

There have already been spot shortages in Florida, Arizona and Missouri due to a lack of tank truck drivers \u2014 and what is more concerning is that it could become harder to find fuel, especially over the upcoming summer holidays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(NBC\u00a0 News)\u00a0 More than a year after the U.S. was forced into lock down by the pandemic, Americans are taking to the road again, whether returning to work or taking long-delayed vacations \u2014 but travel plans could be disrupted in the months ahead due to the possibility of gasoline shortages. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":93706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=224669"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224721,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224669\/revisions\/224721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=224669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=224669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=224669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}