WINNIPEG — Get out your fuel-surcharge calculator.

And tell the consumers you meet that they should expect to pay more for their stuff.

That’s the gist of the message expressed by the Manitoba Trucking Association (MTA) this week as diesel fuel jumped to its highest level in over two years.

Driven primarily by the ongoing unrest in the Middle East, particularly in Libya, the price of oil and diesel shot up in the last week.

And you don’t have to look far to see the problem.

Around Winnipeg, diesel has been reported as high as $1.16 a liter – a 10 cent jump from last week.

“Fuel is one of the largest cost factors for trucking companies,” says MTA Executive Director Bob Dolyniuk. “With the slim profit margins that exist under normal conditions; trucking companies are not able to absorb the increased cost of fuel. “

The increased costs, he says, will be passed along to consumers.

The MTA voiced its concern only days after the American Trucking Associations (ATA) vociferously encouraged the Obama administration to stop blocking domestic oil production, for largely the same reason: The ongoing shenanigans in the Middle East and North Africa.

With political turmoil in that part of the world threatening to send oil prices surging higher, energy independence has never been more important than it is now, the ATA said.

The increase in fuel prices is a double-edged sword for the average consumer as not only will it cost more to get to the store, but also prices will be exponentially higher upon arrival, the MTA says.