Hawaii shoppers are paying far more for food as higher fuel costs ripple through shipping and trucking — bad news for families already paying the highest grocery bills in the country.

• Hawaii grocery prices are now 30% above the national average, and the gap keeps widening.
• Oil prices jumped after the Iran war, raising the cost of every container and truck route on the islands.
• Nearly everything in a Hawaii shopping cart arrives by sea, and shipping now costs the state's biggest food distributor tens of millions more a year.
• Diesel for delivery trucks is up 77%, and air cargo costs have more than doubled.
• Fresh produce takes the hardest hit because berries, salad, and vegetables have to fly in — some shoppers say fruit that cost $3 now runs $5 or more.

Outlook: Food prices in Hawaii are unlikely to ease until fuel costs come down, and distributors are deciding how much of the increase to pass on to shoppers.