The entire supply chain is under great financial stress as the spot price of WTI crude oil rose steadily to over US$110 per barrel, on March 13th of 2008 — a record-setting price.

While the price for WTI crude oil is expected to average near $100 per barrel through the rest of this year, transport companies and everybody else getting their supply through their services are bracing for the effects of higher fuel prices during the summer season, defined as the period from April 1st to September 30th.

Pricewise, let’s start with the regular grade gasoline retail prices, which averaged $2.93 per gallon last summer (of 2007) and are projected to average $3.54 per gallon during the current driving season.

The trucking business is going to be hit even harder as diesel fuel prices, which averaged $2.85 per gallon last summer, are projected to average $3.73 this summer.

In fact, the monthly average gasoline price at the pump is projected to peak at just over $3.60 per gallon in June while the monthly average diesel price is expected to peak at just over $3.90 per gallon in April.

These rather scary retail price projections reflect higher prices for the refiners’ average acquisition cost of crude oil, projected to average close to $97 per barrel, up from about $67 per barrel last summer which account for a hefty $30 price hike, per barrel. Furthermore, strong world distillate demand growth, especially in Europe and Asia, will do nothing to help the situation domestically, in America.

It is important to note, however, that even if the US national average monthly gasoline price comes to peak around $3.60 per gallon this summer, it’s entirely possible that prices, at some point, will cross the $4 per gallon threshold, severely hurting the transport industry and those who depend on it.

Countless consumers may be forced to reconsider driving their cars at all and the same kind of dilemma may happen for transport operators of all sizes as well as petroleum-based product manufacturers.

Transportation and logistics companies, especially in America, need to plan (and provision lots of “emergency money”) right now for this summer’s potential fuel price explosion.

Tags: gas, fuel, wti crude oil, oil, diesel, petroleum, pump, america, usa, transport, logistics, summer

Back in the 1960′s, taking the plane was a “special event” where the passengers were treated like kings, from the moment they entered the departure airport to the moment they left the arrival one.

For instance, the meals that Air France served to it’s Montreal-Paris liaison passengers were prepared by the very prestigious Ritz-Carlton, on Sherbrooke Street, in Montreal. If you’ve flown this Air France lately, you know it’s not as glitzy anymore, even if you fly in the more expensive business class.

So things have changed in the airlines business and not everyone agrees it’s for the better.

Companies like Air Canada, after being sold to American interests, lost interest in the less traveled routes, such as Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Northern Canada, thus severely penalizing smaller communities which had, under Canadian management, been decently served — globalization, privatization and shareholder greed have apparently trumped over all basic consumer satisfaction obligations.

Air travel horror stories abound.

From the fact that it’s still complicated to deal with the airlines, to buy tickets or worse, to get customer service, to the continuous stream of mismanagement imbroglios (think about the luggage nightmares), many modern day airlines have dumbed down their service to the point where it’s not even close to what their marketing promises.

For air passengers, the bread and butter of the airlines, the multiplication of fees (for everything, really), the grossly exagerated security paranoia, the flight delays (with little or no compensation to the ticket holder), the arrogant attitude from the airline personnel and the plastic-like food served on flights (when anything is served, at all) taking the plane has become a pain more than a “generally pleasant experience”.

Regular air travelers are now even attempting to opt-out of today’s air travel madness by asking their companies to buy sophisticated “always-on” teleconferencing solutions to minimize the air commuting back and forth from the various company locations — in itself, this is a good thing but still, it’s precipitated by the fact that taking the plane, for many people, is not exactly a walk in the park, at least not anymore (because it used to be much easier, more expensive but easier nonetheless).

Some airlines specialize in high-yield market niches like the C-level business travel and that’s fine but their ads feature “great service” as a plus… shouldn’t that be a bare minimum for even the “regular” flights?

While the airline industry isn’t too bothered with customer satisfaction, a study published earlier this week by American universities reveal that over 25% of the flights were late, in 2007. Accordingly, the number of traveler complaints filed was up by a whopping 60% last year, making it the worst year for air traffic, in America, ever!

Even more preoccupying is the fact that experts in airline customer satisfaction predict the current situation will continue to worsen as the price of tickets, the fees and the barriers to free movement of travelers continue to mount while, at the very same time, the service level continues to drop.

This being said, let’s keep in mind that the current state of affairs could translate into a unique opportunity for venturing airline entrepreneurs with an astute sense for customer satisfaction.

Tags: airlines, air travel, planes, customer satisfaction, passengers, great service, tickets, fees, security