Diesel tops $5.65 as energy prices climb and FMCSA revives broker rule

National on-highway diesel averaged $5.652 a gallon in the week to 24 August, up 3.6% on the week and 52% higher than a year ago on the EIA's pump survey. That figure is a retail average including tax, so fleets buying on contract at the truck stop pay less than the headline. Read it as direction, and the direction is still up.

The pressure is coming from crude. Transport Topics reports oil futures grinding higher and European gas at a three-year high as renewed Persian Gulf supply fears return, while the White House is separately leaning on refiners to bring pump prices down. Neither moves your fuel surcharge this week, but both point to where it is heading.

For owner-operators the week's real news is regulatory. The FMCSA has revived its freight-broker transparency proposal -- the rule that would force brokers to show what they were paid on a load -- which had stalled after its 2024 draft, according to Transport Topics. And with a September 30 deadline looming, Congress bought more time on the next highway bill, so the program keeps running without a lapse for now, Land Line reports.

Enforcement stayed heavy. Safety blitzes across six states placed at least 99 drivers out of service, FreightWaves reports, and Kentucky State Police flagged extra commercial-vehicle enforcement over the Labor Day weekend, per The Trucker. If you are running holiday miles, assume the scales are open.

On the market itself, ACT Research said the for-hire trucking market stayed tight in July even as capacity expands, while ISM's August factory index slowed with "warning signs" starting to appear -- two readings that bear on how much freight is on offer this fall. And bankrupt Yellow Corp reached a $526 million settlement of its remaining pension claims, Trucking Dive reports, moving the long wind-down closer to done.

Nothing here changes tomorrow's dispatch. But the fuel line and the broker rule are the two worth watching.