BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — The price of diesel fuel continues to climb locally and nationally.

Currently, diesel is $5.01 in Alabama and $5.32 nationally.

The high prices are making things difficult for local truck drivers.

Alabama Trucking Association Senior Advisor Ford Boswell said contract and independent drivers are paying out of pocket for diesel fuel, and they can’t always quickly adjust their rates with the high prices.

“Most of the things you buy at the store at some point travel to a retailer by truck. With diesel at well over $5 a gallon, it can cost more than $1,000 to fill up a typical 18-wheeler. That will eventually be passed on to the consumer,” Boswell said in a statement.

Local truck driver James Jones said jobs are giving the same price for jobs, but the spike in diesel makes it harder to create a sustainable profit.

Read Related Also: David Lee Roth Wife And Net Worth: Illness & Health Update – Where Is He Now?

This makes him make several changes to make a profit.

“If you find something wrong with your equipment, you wanna fix that as much as you can, but when you’re faced with the high price of fuel, in some cases, you’ll run a trie lower than you normally would because fuel is so high it’s taking all of you profit,” Jones said.

Jones has owned his own trucking business for two years and says the spike in diesel prices has made him and his drivers more selective about the jobs and routes they take to make a profit.

“In some cases, it’s causing us to go longer distances; in some cases, it’s causing us to get out of our normal travel lane; we will run, but to make ends meet, we have to do what we have to do,” Jones said.

Jones said he takes loads at $4-5 a mile because of high diesel fuel to make a profit.