What disruptions there were, were relatively minor.

Truckers were not able to pump diesel, since the pumps are electric, and shipments could not be made into large urban areas such as New York City, Martin Labbe, of Ormond Beach, FL-based Martin Labbe Associates, told Fleet Owner.

Labbe compared getting in and out of major cities to a snowstorm for truckers. Even if truckers were able to get into cities to make deliveries, they still needed someone at the businesses to accept them.

"People staying home probably helped facilitate deliveries in New York City," Labbe said. "But the blackout was probably not as significant to trucking as it seemed to be for everyone else."

Dennis Murphy, spokesman for the Homeland Security Dept., told The Associated Press that there was a minimal effect on border crossings between the United States and Canada. However, the Detroit-Windsor tunnel was closed for about 30 minutes after the blackout occurred.

Within seconds of yesterday's blanket blackout across the northeastern U.S. and Canada, diesel generators began providing back-up power to several businesses that were hit by the blackout, according to Diesel Technology Forum.

For example, diesel generators at seven New Penn terminals allowed the company to operate throughout the power outage.

"We were able to reroute terminal-to-terminal operations overnight to minimize the impact traffic congestion had on our ability to provide next-day delivery of shipments throughout the Northeast," said New Penn vp of operations John McCloy.