If You Live on the East Coast Fill Up Your Gas Tank Now (Major Fuel Pipeline was Shut Down: update, now open)

Based on what I know of the trucking industry, which is admittedly not much, I don’t think there is a lot of spare capacity. You, however, are arguing that “It’s just a matter of $$$$ getting them to show up,” so it behooves you to verify that such capacity exists.

I will note that the industry itself seems to think they don’t have the capacity, hence headlines such as the Detroit News last week: Gasoline pinch to grind on for weeks with truck shortage. The article itself waffles on whether the problem is a lack of trucks or a lack of drivers, but in any case, they are pulling equipment from Texas and Minnesota and still say it is going to be at least another week to ten days before there is any noticeable improvement in supplies even with the pipeline back in operation and the tank farms filling up. .

The shortage of trucks/truckers has been reported on, and links to those reports have been posted here. Do you have any source for your claim that the problem is tank capacity?

Gas truck drivers have to have further certification. You can’t pull Susan who doesn’t have that from her Wal-Mart run to suddenly start driving gas trucks.

Well it’s not just certification. It’s a massive liability to lose a tanker so companies want 10-20 years of driving experience with no accidents.