Re: Australians to boycott Service Stations!

["Robert Bushby" <romanabt@tassie.net.au>]

OK fellas, get a bit real about who controls fuel prices!

And, if fuel goes up in price, it goes up for the Railways as well. I manage
road, rail and shipping contracts, and if you think the ride for Australian
fuels as we use them - about 20% is a bit out of order, Shipping bunkers
have nearly doubled in 8 months from USD84 to USD162 (for heavy fuel oil in
Singapore). Shipping freight rates are rising rapidly as a result. I wonder
how much longer rail and trucking companies in Australia can continue to
hang out without substantial rises in freight rates. (And then there is
GST??)

Even air cargo rates have fuel surcharges added to them now based on the
movement in the price of oil. New York oil prices last week were about USD33
/ barrel, and our intelligence tells us we will see USD40 before OPEC meets
in April. What they will do is anyones guess, but at least the Saudi's are
calling for moderation as they reckon if its over USD25 that it starts to
encourage the world to start looking for alternatives to using petroleum
based fuels.

Maybe parking the car and using the train is one of them, but I think
Australian's like their cars too much! A three day boycott from petrol
stations - yeh, I think not - just think of the rushes on the day before and
the day after - some of you have probably got better memories of petrol
rationing than I have.

For most companies with transport tasks, with higher fuel and freight rates
on the cards -  I bet most are doing what I am doing, looking for better and
more efficient ways to do it, and try and minimise the effect of what's
happening.

The OPEC meeting in April is still along way off,

Rob Bushby
Queenstown, Tas.