Desperate truck drivers are stranded on the side of Australian highways as the nation’s fuel crisis deepens, with some warning they may soon be forced to sell their trucks just to survive.
Across South Australia and Victoria, Loadshift transport operators say they are driving “blind”, pulling into service stations with empty tanks only to find there’s no fuel left and dozens of trucks already waiting.
Robert Cook, who runs heavy haulage company Helco Group, was left stuck on the Nullarbor Plain and again near the South Australia-Victoria border after pulling into service stations with no diesel available.
Mr Cook documented the ordeal, showing his dashboard sitting at just a quarter of a tank after a 500km run, warning there is “not a drop of diesel anywhere”.
Another clip captures trucks sitting idle at a service station, all waiting for fuel deliveries that may take hours or even days to arrive.
“This is like this across South Australia and now Victoria,” Robert said in the video.
“Out of my hands.”
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Mr Cook regularly completes long-distance loops between major cities, said the situation was becoming unsustainable.
His fuel bill for a Melbourne to Perth trip has doubled from $5000 to $10,000.
Mr Cook said the situation has reached a breaking point, backing calls for the Federal government to intervene.
“They’re double-dipping. They’re taxing us twice,” he said, arguing the diesel excise should be scrapped.
Loadshift operations co-ordinator Alex Randall said drivers across the country were no longer being left stranded with no warning about where fuel is and isn’t available.
“This is exactly what we’ve been warning about for weeks – drivers are out there keeping the country moving, and they’re being left high and dry, literally,” Mr Randall said.
“There’s no system telling them which servos have fuel and which don’t. They’re driving blind.”
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Mr Randall said the industry has been warning authorities about fuel shortages “for weeks”.
Loadshift is demanding urgent government action, starting with a temporary suspension of the diesel excise.
The tax currently sits at more than 50 cents per litre, a cost truckies say is impossible to justify when the fuel is scarce.
“The government is collecting more than 50 cents a litre in excise on a resource drivers can’t even find. Rob’s sitting on the side of the road in outback SA right now because a servo ran dry. He’s not the first and he won’t be the last,” Mr Randall said.
Mr Randall said, “what makes this even worse” is that approximately one-third of trucks on Australian roads are travelling empty, burning precious diesel without carrying freight.
“We’re rationing fuel, releasing emergency reserves, lowering standards – and meanwhile trucks are burning diesel with nothing on the back. Every empty return leg is wasted fuel that Rob and drivers like him desperately need right now.”
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said regional Australia was bearing the brunt of the fuel disruption, despite national supply levels remaining stable.
”Despite the fact that Australia’s fuel has been arriving, and that our minimum stock obligations are in good shape, we have continued to see unacceptable impacts, particularly in regional Australia, as the supply chain has struggled to cope with massive spikes in demand,” Mr Bowen said.
Mr Bowen said the government had moved to ease pressure on the system by adjusting fuel stockpile requirements, allowing companies to redirect supply more flexibly.
“Now, this fuel will not be released immediately. Indeed, I have had conversations over the last 24 hours, and will have more with the fuel companies, about ensuring that this flows to regional Australia,” Mr Bowen said.
Mr Bowen said new measures included temporarily relaxing fuel standards to enable an additional 100 million litres of petrol to enter the market, as well as reducing minimum stock obligations to improve distribution.
“The minimum stock obligation will be reduced for each company in return for an undertaking from them that they will work within the constraints they have, as cooperatively as they can, to ensure that this extra supply flows to the regions of shortage,” Mr Bowen said.
“It won’t flow immediately. The supply chain is very complicated for the fuel companies. It’s not like they can just press a button and get fuel out the door, but it will make a difference going forward and help them help regional communities in particular.”
Loadshift business development manager Archie Johnson said the rising fuels costs are yet to hit, with many operators still weeks away from receiving soaring fuel bills.
“The real pain hasn’t hit yet. The fuel bills from the last three weeks haven’t fully landed for a lot of operators,” Mr Johnson said.
“We’ve already got carriers telling us their customers are just pulling the pin. Saying, “Don’t worry about it, we can’t afford to send it.”
He warned that the pressure could quickly escalate once those bills arrive.
“When those come due next month and they’re double what they budgeted for, that’s when businesses start going to the wall. We’ve already got carriers telling us their customers are just pulling the pin. Saying, “Don’t worry about it, we can’t afford to send it,” Mr Johnson said.
He said the fallout could trigger a wide collapse across the sector, particularly for operators unable to service loans on expensive equipment.
“Operators who can’t make their repayments are going to have to offload trucks, but who’s buying right now?,” Mr Johnson said.
He also said the crisis was accelerating a workforce shortage, with experienced drivers leaving the industry altogether.
Mr Johnson said some operators were already stepping away or being stood down as conditions deteriorated.
“We already had 28,000 driver positions unfilled before any of this. Now we’re losing experienced operators who are just parking up and walking away,” Mr Johnson said.
“Some are being told to take annual leave and not come back till further notice. Getting those blokes back into the industry once this passes is going to be incredibly hard. And the freight doesn’t go away – it just doesn’t get moved.”
