If you’re hitting the road for the holiday weekend, gas might not be as easy to get as usual. It’s not necessarily a gas shortage but a shortage of drivers to deliver it.
Let’s connect the dots.
You have probably heard by now that gas prices are on the way up. That’s not unusual this time of year as people take road trips for the summer and producers switch over to the more expensive summer blend.
But this year some drivers are reporting that they’ve seen gas stations running dry.
That’s being driven in part by the truck driver shortage.
Like many industries struggling to hire, trucking is also having a tough time. It’s even harder to find oil tank drivers since they are required to have special qualifications to transport the payload.
The National Tank Truck Carriers group estimates up to 25 percent of these trucks are idle because there’s no one to drive them.
Energy experts also worry about human nature.
The concern is when drivers spot the occasional empty pump, they may race to top off their tanks. This behavior can make a small gasoline shortage much bigger.
The experts say it is not time to panic but plan instead.