The current diesel shortage in the west hasn’t gutted the trucking industry just yet, but with the busy season fast approaching it could become an issue.

CTV Edmonton reported yesterday that due to a shortage of hydrogen sulfide needed for production, Suncor has been rationing the supply of diesel.

"We have a couple of small tankers in our yard that we filled up when we heard the rumours that this was going to happen," said David MacNevin, operations manager at WhiteCourt Transport, to todaystrucking.com.

Despite various cardlocks implementing restrictive hours, Whitecourt has been able to satisfy their fuel needs. "We haven’t starved ourselves," MacNevin said, adding that due to the fluctuating prices, they had to raise their fuel surcharge prices.

"We manage our fleet a bit differently, too," he said. "We tell our guys to fill up their tanks every chance they get instead of waiting to run fuel tanks empty."

Trucker Stephen Large, based out of Lloydminster, AB., said that the cardlock he uses has been pretty good with being prepared. "But I do know of a couple of cardlocks near here that have put up big signs saying ‘sorry, temporaily out of fuel.’"

MacNevin said that the suppliers were "fairly quick on giving us a heads-up on managing the cardlocks with restricted hours in all the small communities," explaining that the local truckers who use those fuel pumps understand the hours while the transient trucks that come through late in the night are having to go somewhere else.

For the most part however, diesel is flowing save for intermittent shortages at various locations.

"We’re surviving today, and our suppliers are telling us that it’s a two or three week burp that we’re gonna feel," MacNevin said.

"We’re coming up to our busy time," he acknowledged, "if the shortage is kicking around then, we may have a different story."