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The price of diesel fuel left 1999 the way it spent most of the year – heading upward. In the process, it pushed three more carriers – Federal Express, Airborne Express and Viking Freight System – to implement fuel surcharges.

	Fuel Prices
	Week of Jan. 3:
	source	price	change
	DOE	130.9	+1.1
	Comdata	128.4	+1.2
	OPIS self-serve	129.4	+1.0
	OPIS wholesale	75.8	+1.5

The national average retail price of diesel fuel on Jan. 3 was $1.309 a gallon, up 1.1 cents from the previous week and 34.4 cents from the start of 1999, according the federal Energy Information Administration. It broke the most recent high of $1.304 that was reached on Nov. 29.

Toward the end of last year, which saw diesel fuel hit a historic low of 95.3 cents in February and then rose steadily, both truckload and less-than-truckload carriers sought higher rates or imposed fuel surcharges for their services. Many of them attributed the need to charge customers more to rising fuel costs, which were sapping profits.

That trend continued on Dec. 30, when FedEx announced it was implementing a 3% fuel surcharge on most domestic and international services. Its executive vice president, Alan B. Graf Jr., said the express parcel carrier had "held off" a decision on the surcharge to allow customers to get through the peak shipping season.

For the full story, see the Jan. 10 print edition of Transport Topics. .