Laredo bridge closes for 9/11 ceremony as Detroit opens its 2027 order book

Freight's late-August news runs from the Texas border to a Mississippi rebuild, with equipment buyers and anyone carrying debt both in the frame. Here is what moved since the last roundup, and what to do about it.

**Plan around a border closure.** U.S. Customs and Border Protection will close a Laredo-area international bridge for a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11. If your lanes run through the South Texas crossings, build slack into the schedule that day rather than assuming normal throughput.

**A new engine order book opens.** Daimler Truck North America opens ordering for its Detroit Gen 6 engines on September 1. The engines are built to meet the EPA's 2027 nitrogen-oxide limits that take effect January 1, so this is the first look at pricing and lead times for anyone speccing trucks into next year.

**A Southern corridor goes under construction.** Mississippi is starting a large freight-corridor rebuild — more than 30 bridges and 30 miles of highway. Expect lane restrictions and slower running on the corridor while the work is live; route planning now beats surprises later.

**A big shipper is pressing rates.** Advance Auto Parts is rebidding its carrier contracts and expects to save tens of millions of dollars. On the carrier side of that table it reads as continued downward pressure on contract pricing from large shippers — worth knowing before you sit down to renew.

**Financing just got a warning.** Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh signaled that interest-rate hikes may still be needed, saying recent cooler inflation reports do not convince him the underlying trend has improved. If you are financing a truck or running a line of credit, that is the direction of your borrowing cost.

**Lock your loads.** Arizona police recovered roughly $400,000 in stolen cargo in two stops 20 minutes apart, after an investigator tracked a stolen trailer. Cargo theft crews are organized and fast; secure the trailer and mind where you drop it.

Underneath all of it, diesel is still the fixed cost. The EIA's national pump average sat at $5.454 a gallon in the week to August 17 — and that is a retail average including taxes, not the discounted price a fleet pays on contract, so read it as direction rather than as your bill. The through-line into September is timing: the crossings, the equipment orders, and the cost of money all reward planning ahead.