YATESVILLE, Pa. — Calex ISCS in Yatesville hauls about 30 loads of produce a week to grocery stores in our area from California.
Right now the company is facing a very large increase in diesel fuel.
"Fuel prices today are $2.02 more than they were this date last year," said Calex ISCS Chief Operating Officer Tommy Grimes.
He and his team watched this week as fuel prices increased by the hour.
"The price of diesel is $5.29," said Grimes. And he only expects it to go up, which isn't good when you have a fleet of tractor-trailers traveling more than 6,000 miles each week.
"As those prices go up so do our costs," he added.
People at the grocery store are already seeing an increase in things like produce because of increases in the prices of equipment along the supply chain.
Calex tells Newswatch 16 a refrigerated trailer has gone up $20,000 in the last year, and an increase in fuel prices is only going to add to this issue.
"Calex is short for California Express. When we started in 1974. That's what we did. We took dry goods to the west coast and brought fresh produce back," explained Grimes.
Not only does Calex need the fuel to run the trucks, but the refrigerated trailers burn through a gallon of fuel an hour to keep produce cold on its way from California.
All these increases in prices are charged to Calex's customers, which include a few grocery store chains in our area.
"Once our customer buys their produce, and we bring it in and deliver it to their distribution centers from California, they then turn around and send it to their stores. So they take all those prices, and then they put their margin on, you know everybody's got to, they have to stay in business. So we the consumer pay those prices," said Grimes.
Folks at Calex tell Newswatch 16 This is a cost that will have to be absorbed by the customer at the grocery store.
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