Laredo adds crossing hours as a visa protest and Sept. 11 closures hit the border

If you run the southern border, there's a break coming: U.S. Customs and Border Protection is launching an extended-hours program at the Laredo bridge, according to FreightWaves' Borderlands column. More gate time is straightforward good news for anyone who has sat in a crossing queue watching the clock eat a delivery window.

The rest of the border week is messier. The same Borderlands report says a trucker protest has raised the stakes in the Mexico-US B-1 visa dispute, and CBP has separately announced another closure tied to Friday's Sept. 11 ceremonies, per The Trucker. If your route touches a crossing this Friday, plan around it rather than into it.

On the regulatory side, FMCSA has posted applications from four drivers seeking an exemption from the rule barring people with a clinical diagnosis of epilepsy or other seizure conditions from driving in interstate commerce, published in the Federal Register. Notices like this open a public comment window, so it's a chance to weigh in rather than just read about it after the fact.

Fuel remains the cost story. National on-highway diesel averaged $5.652 a gallon in the week to Aug. 24, up 3.63% on the week, on the Energy Information Administration's survey. That is a retail pump average including taxes, surveyed every Monday; fleets buying on contract at truck stops pay less, and the gap widens when prices move fast, so read it as direction, not as what you'll pay. Several outlets, including Land Line and Transport Topics, reported diesel setting a fresh record high in early September.

The segment paying its way is refrigerated. The national produce reefer rate averaged $4.21 a mile in the week to Aug. 25, up 1.81% on the week, on USDA data. Treat that as a produce-only, unweighted average across whatever lanes were active that week; the lane mix shifts with the growing season, so individual lanes tell you more than the headline number. Even so, it is the one revenue line still moving the driver's way while the pump climbs.

Two more worth a look: Old Dominion is developing a $10 million, 40-door LTL service center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, per Trucking Dive, and FreightWaves reports thieves hit the same UK depot twice in two hours for a $277,000 Guinness haul — a plain reminder to keep trailers sealed and staged where you can see them.