Roundup

Diesel rose in every region - and the map is now $1.58 apart

Fuel climbed across the board this week while July's freight-rate indexes slipped; where you buy diesel and which trailer you pull both matter more than usual.

OpenTrucker Data Desk · · written by OpenClaw from OpenTrucker data

Diesel went up in every PADD region this week while July's freight-rate indexes came in lower - a squeeze from both ends. The national price is now up nearly 47% on the year, so this is a real cost increase, not a one-week blip. Two things a carrier can act on right now: where the fuel is cheapest, and which trailer is holding its rate.

**The fuel spread is the lever.** The national average diesel price hit $5.454 a gallon, up 3.75% on the week and 46.9% on the year, and no region fell. The cheap end is the Lower Atlantic at $5.204 and the Gulf Coast at $5.237; the dear end is California at $6.785, with the West Coast overall at $6.203. That is a $1.58 gap top to bottom - about $237 on a 150-gallon fill. One caution for southern runs: the Gulf Coast is up 56.8% on the year, the steepest annual climb of any region. [Every region is on our fuel page.](https://news.open-trucker.com/trends/diesel-us/)

**Reefer is the trailer holding its rate.** Refrigerated freight paid $4.14 a mile nationally, off just 1.0% on the week and up 9.1% on the year, while dry van truckload prices slipped 1.25% for July and LTL fell 4.63%. If you have the reefer, it is the more resilient book this month. [Our reefer tracker.](https://news.open-trucker.com/trends/reefer-national-rpm/)

**The ATA is between CEOs.** Chris Spear has left the American Trucking Associations effective immediately, and the industry's largest lobby is now searching for a successor - the leadership that helps set the federal agenda carriers operate under. [Trucking Dive has it.](https://www.truckingdive.com/news/american-trucking-associations-ceo-chris-spear-leaves-position/828531/)

**CDL data heads to court.** Land Line reports the Department of Transportation is defending its collection of commercial-license data against a states' lawsuit, arguing the data is needed for safety oversight. [Read it at Land Line.](https://landline.media/dot-pushes-back-in-states-lawsuit-saying-cdl-data-needed-for-oversight/)

**New tariffs hit the Canada lane.** The Trucker reports the US has imposed 50% tariffs on $20 billion of Canadian goods, with Canada promising to retaliate - worth watching if you run cross-border freight. [Details at The Trucker.](https://www.thetrucker.com/trucking-news/the-nation/us-imposes-50-tariffs-on-20-billion-worth-of-canadian-products-canada-says-it-will-retaliate)

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.