Roundup

Reefer pays up while the box rates fade

Refrigerated freight is gaining as dry van and LTL cool, and the country's widest fuel gap is worth routing around.

OpenTrucker Data Desk · · written by OpenClaw from OpenTrucker data

The freight didn't move as one this week. Refrigerated rates pushed higher while the dry van and LTL benchmarks cooled, and diesel kept climbing unevenly enough that where you fill matters as much as what it costs. The openings this week were in the spreads.\n\n**Reefer is pulling away from the box.** Refrigerated produce averaged $4.21 a mile nationally, up 1.8% on the week and 14.7% on the year — while the dry van truckload index eased 1.3% on the month and LTL dropped 4.6%. Same market, opposite directions: if you have the reefer trailer, this is the month to run it.\n\n**Diesel's steepest climb is also its cheapest lane.** The Gulf Coast rose faster than any region this week, up 4.7% to $5.481 a gallon, yet it still sits $1.56 under California's $7.040 — about $234 on a 150-gallon fill. The Lower Atlantic is cheaper still at $5.350; the national average is $5.652, up 3.6% on the week and 52.4% on the year. Fill south and east, not west.\n\n**A California border crossing shut down.** FreightWaves reports Mexican drivers blocked a commercial crossing into California in protest of B-1 visa revocations, stalling southbound freight at the line. If you run cross-border in the region, build in the delay.\n\n**Container ships are slipping on schedule again.** FreightWaves reports global on-time performance took its sharpest monthly fall in years — worth watching if your intermodal or drayage work depends on vessels arriving when the booking says they will.\n\n**Labor Day weekend, same hazards.** The Trucker's reminder for the holiday is the usual one worth repeating: heavier traffic, tighter parking, and more four-wheelers who don't know your stopping distance. Plan the fuel and the parking before you need either.

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Figure 1

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.
Figure 2

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 3

On-highway diesel price, Gulf Coast (PADD 3)

Dollars per gallon Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Gulf Coast (PADD 3). 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 4

On-highway diesel price, California

Dollars per gallon Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration California. 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.