Across Western Canada, truck drivers are engaged in a desperate and sometimes futile search for fuel after diesel production has slowed down to a trickle.
Maintenance at an Edmonton plant that supplies hydrogen to oil giant Suncor has slowed fuel production causing a diesel shortage from Northern Ontario to B.C.
For more than a week, truckers have had trouble finding diesel -- and when they do find it they are paying more for it.
Dave MacNevin, an operations manager at Whitecorp Transport Inc., said that many truck drivers have taken to their radios in the search for fuel.
"Everybody's on the two-ways talking about diesel cardlocks shutting down because they're out of fuel," MacNevin told The Canadian Press.
About 90 per cent of Canada's consumer goods and food are moved by truckers and a fuel shortage could mean fewer toys and turkeys on store shelves.
"If you don't have fuel you can't run your vehicles," Bob Dolyniuk from the Manitoba Trucking Association told CTV News. "And if you can't run your vehicles you can't produce services to your customers."
Gas stations that are receiving diesel shipments have been limiting what customers can buy. On Wednesday, an Edmonton station blocked off pumps as customers lined up to fill their tanks.
Suncor says it's searching for more supply offshore and across North America.
The shortage is being blamed on an explosion at a Regina refinery in October that reduced diesel output and slowed production at Suncor's Edmonton plant because of a hydrogen shortage.
The Alberta refinery is expected to resume normal production mid-month, but service stations have been warned that the shortage could last into December.
With a report from CTV News' Jill Macyshon and files from The Canadian Press
