WASHINGTON — A bill introduced by Sen. Olympia Snowe, (R-ME) will make it illegal to refuse to pass on 100 percent of fuel surcharges to whoever buys the fuel.

The bill, which has been lobbied for by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, would help owner-ops recover fuel surcharges, which are sometimes skimmed by carriers or freight brokers.

The Truthful Reliable Understanding of Consumer Costs Act or (TRUCC Act) “will go a long way toward helping truckers and their shipping customers weather the brutal cost of fuel,” said Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president.

There is no uniform fuel surcharge standard for the trucking industry in the U.S. or Canada. They must be negotiated individually, leaving shippers and truckers vulnerable to opportunistic “middlemen.”

Quoted by OOIDA’s official website Landline, Spencer commented that it’s all too common for middlemen in the trucking industry to push shippers to pay fuel surcharges, “but only pass along a portion of those surcharges to the truckers who are actually hauling the freight and paying the fuel bill.”

To make matters worse, he continues, owner-ops are often denied access to the contracts and rate information negotiated between freight brokers and the shipper they are hauling freight for.