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The price for a litre of diesel fuel has spiked in recent weeks, with few signs of it letting up. (Image Credit: Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)
fuel spikes

‘It’s everywhere:’ ongoing global conflicts increasing local pricing pressure

Apr 7, 2026 | 3:57 PM

NANAIMO — Increasingly high fuel costs are causing both direct and indirect complications for pocketbooks in the region.

While regular gasoline has hovered around 200 cents per litre over the last two weeks, diesel fuel has continued to spike, reaching the mid-260 cent mark on Tuesday, April 7, at many stations around Nanaimo and Oceanside.

It has the president and CEO of the B.C. Trucking Association, Dave Earle, increasingly concerned regarding cost pressures for the sector and consumers overall.

“There are shortages, there are products not being manufactured, that’s going to start washing up on our shores in a matter of weeks. The things you’re buying on the shelf are still going to be there, they’re going to be more expensive.”

Diesel was roughly 30 cents per litre cheaper at the end of March.

Earle detailed a hypothetical trucking load from California, driven to the Lower Mainland in a refrigerated truck.

He said if the trip were priced at around $5,000, an average of 30 per cent of the cost would be fuel-related at the present time.

Should prices continue to escalate, the cost of those trips increases with the difference passed onto consumers.

“If that goes up by half…what that means is that’s an extra $750 on a $5,000 run. So instead of $5,000 it’s $5,750, and now the question becomes, does that matter? Are you going to notice that on a high-value load, like electronics or appliances? Probably not. Are you going to notice it on a load of lettuce? Sure.”

Earle said “it’s everywhere” when asked about how fuel pricing is affecting goods and services offered locally.

“Everything we touch has so many steps where we use fuel, and that’s why we’re going to see inflationary pressures on everything that we have.”

Continuing conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran has caused a global energy crisis, with the vital Strait of Hormuz largely locked down by Iran in response to U.S. and Israeli aggression.

It means about one fifth of the world’s oil supply is trapped behind the blockade.

Earle said North America is presently faring much better than other areas of the world due to summer approaching and a demand for home heating going down, however should the conflict continue into the winter months, the situation would change.

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