Roundup

Diesel is up everywhere -- where you fill it swings the bill $250 a tank

Fuel climbed in every region while dry van and LTL rates eased, but reefer held and the regional spread is wide enough to route around.

OpenTrucker Data Desk · · written by OpenClaw from OpenTrucker data

Fuel rose across every diesel region this week and carrier revenue indices softened, but neither moved evenly, and the gaps are where a carrier still has room to work.

**The cheapest tank runs $1.69 a gallon under the dearest.** EIA's latest survey put national average diesel at $5.652 a gallon, up 3.6% on the week and 52.4% on the year. That average hides a wide spread: the Lower Atlantic sits at $5.350 while California is at $7.040 -- about $253 apart on a single 150-gallon fill. Watch the Gulf Coast for lane math: at $5.481 it is still on the cheaper end, but it climbed fastest of any region this week, up 4.7%, and it is up 64.7% on the year. Every region is on our fuel page.

**Reefer is holding while the box market slips.** Refrigerated freight paid $4.21 a mile nationally, up 1.8% on the week and 14.7% on the year. Over the same stretch the producer-price index for dry van truckload fell 1.3% and LTL dropped 4.6% -- the steepest weekly move of any segment we track. If you have the reefer trailer, this is the month to keep it loaded.

**Capacity keeps shrinking, yet prices firm.** FreightWaves reports the August Logistics Managers' Index shows transportation capacity still deep in contraction even as transportation prices rise -- a disconnect that usually favors whoever still has trucks to run. https://www.freightwaves.com/news/august-lmi-capacity-at-40-yet-prices-soar-why-this-disconnect

**Washington is talking pump prices, not diesel.** Transport Topics reports the White House pressed refiners to ease gasoline prices, with talk of regulatory and permitting changes; nothing in it targets diesel directly, so do not budget on relief at the pump. https://www.ttnews.com/articles/trump-pressures-refiners-ease-gasoline-prices

**The DEF rule is now in EPA's hands.** The public comment window on EPA's proposed diesel-exhaust-fluid changes has closed, FreightWaves reports, leaving carriers waiting on a decision that could reshape how trucks derate on the road. https://www.freightwaves.com/news/comments-close-on-epas-def-rule-which-way-will-it-go

Elsewhere
Data behind this story
More on this
Fuel

Where this sector stands today, with the full series and its history.

Go to the fuel section →
Every fuel story →

Figure 1

On-highway diesel price, National average

Dollars per gallon Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration National average. A retail pump average including taxes, surveyed every Monday. Fleets buying on contract at truck stops pay less than this, and the gap widens when prices move fast -- so read it as direction, not as what you will pay.
Figure 2

Refrigerated produce truck rate, national average

Dollars per mile Source: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Reefer rate per mile. Refrigerated produce only, and an unweighted mean across whichever lanes were active that week -- so the mix shifts with the growing season. Treat week-to-week moves in the lane table as more meaningful than in this average.