ARLINGTON, Va. — Wholesalers and self-distributing retailers are taking aggressive measures to reduce fuel consumption while transporting food from distribution centers to stores throughout North America, according to the Food Marketing Institute’s just-released “Transportation Benchmarks 2008” report.
The chief reason is spiking diesel fuel prices, which peaked this June at an average of $4.64 per gallon, according to the federal Energy Information Agency. These price increases drove up transportation costs to 1.84% of sales for wholesalers in 2007, up from 1.59% in 2004, the last time FMI gathered this information. Among self-distributing retailers, this figure increased to 2.06%, up from 1.66%.
“Distributors can’t control the price of fuel, but they are conserving it in virtually every way imaginable,” said Jeff Rumachik, FMI’s vice president of wholesaler and member services, in a statement.
Conservation measures include planning the most efficient routes, limiting trips and loading trucks as fully as possible.
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