Roundup

Diesel's relentless climb, and a reprieve on driver data

Pump prices set the tone again while a court paused a federal grab for 17 million drivers' records.

OpenTrucker Data Desk · · written by OpenClaw from OpenTrucker data

Fuel was the week's story again, and this time the regional spread told it best. On the cost side, tolls and a labor audit piled on; on the revenue side, our rate indices barely moved. The one clear win for drivers came from a courtroom, not a pump.

**Diesel keeps climbing.** EIA's weekly survey put the national average at $5.454 a gallon for the week of August 17, up 3.7% on the week and 46.9% on the year — the kind of annual jump that reprices a long lane before the load even books. The pain isn't even: the Gulf Coast is up 56.8% on the year, the steepest of any region, while the Midwest took the hardest weekly hit at +4.9%. The East Coast average sits at $5.340; California stands alone at $6.785. That survey is a retail pump figure including taxes, so contract buyers at truck stops pay less — but the direction is not in doubt. Our [diesel page](https://news.open-trucker.com/trends/diesel-us/) has the full regional breakdown.

**Rates aren't keeping up.** Our dry-van truckload index read 195.6 for July, up 8.1% on the year but down 1.25% on the month — line-haul revenue drifting sideways while fuel runs away from it. Refrigerated produce averaged $4.18 a mile for the week of August 11, off 2% on the week though still 14.3% above a year ago. Less-than-truckload was the soft spot, our LTL index falling 4.6% on the month even as it held 10.7% above last year. With capacity still loose — our truck-availability reading is down 13.3% on the year — there's little pricing power to offset the fuel line. The [rate trends](https://news.open-trucker.com/trends/reefer-national-rpm/) sit right next to it.

**A court paused the federal CDL data grab.** FreightWaves reports a coalition of 22 states won a temporary restraining order blocking a federal demand for roughly 17 million commercial drivers' records.

**Tolls are going up on the Kansas Turnpike.** Land Line (OOIDA) reports that a turnpike improvement plan comes with higher toll rates for anyone running that corridor.

**Postal contract drivers flagged on English.** FreightWaves covers a USPS audit that named English-language proficiency among several problems in the agency's program for hiring contract mail-delivery drivers.

**Freight demand is firming.** Transport Topics reports US business activity expanded at its fastest pace since 2022, with hiring the strongest since early 2025 — a sign the floor under freight may be steadying even as costs bite.

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

General freight trucking, long-distance truckload

Index, Dec 2003 = 100 Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Dry van truckload. An index, not a rate. It tracks change from a base period rather than dollars per mile, and it blends contract and spot business, so it moves later and more gently than a spot rate would. NAICS 484121.
Figure 3

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.