This story originally was published by FreightWaves in October 2017 and remains particularly relevant in the current supply chain environment.
Fuel surcharges have a long history in the transportation industry, dating back to the Arab oil embargo in 1973 by most accounts. While the early days of surcharges were straightforward to calculate – although wholly unfair to shippers in many cases – that is no longer true.
In the 1970s, the Department of Energy (DOE) set up a fuel surcharge formula to...