Roundup

Reefer's best-paying miles are the short ones this week

A quiet news week; the moves worth making are on the lane and fuel boards.

OpenTrucker Data Desk · · written by OpenClaw from OpenTrucker data

The feeds were thin this week — mostly crash reports, border seizures and personnel moves. The two things a carrier can actually act on are on our own boards: where reefer freight is paying, and a fuel number that still won't break. Two industry notes round it out.

**Reefer pays to stay regional.** In the week to Aug 18, the top produce lanes were all short hauls: Delaware, Maryland and Eastern Shore Virginia to Baltimore paid $14 a mile over about 100 miles, and Vidalia, Georgia to Atlanta paid $7.78. The worst-paying lanes on the board were the long westbound pulls — Mexico crossings through South Texas to Los Angeles at $2.06 a mile, and Yakima Valley, Washington to Los Angeles at $2.16. The national produce reefer average was $4.14 a mile, down 1.0% on the week. If you have the trailer, the short regional runs are worth several times the transcontinental hauls right now. [Full lane board on our reefer page.](https://news.open-trucker.com/trends/reefer-national-rpm/)

**Diesel still isn't breaking.** EIA's Aug 17 survey put the national average at $5.454 a gallon, up 3.7% on the week and 46.9% on the year — no relief, with every region higher. The Gulf Coast, at $5.237, is still among the cheapest markets but has climbed fastest of any region over the year, up 56.8%; California remains the dearest at $6.785. Plan fills around the spread. [Every region is on our fuel page.](https://news.open-trucker.com/trends/diesel-us/)

**Private fleets are growing unevenly.** Transport Topics reports that equipment buying among the 2026 Top 100 private carriers has been mixed this year — agricultural fleets expanding while other sectors hold flat, a read on where in-house capacity is being added and where it isn't. [Transport Topics.](https://www.ttnews.com/articles/private-100-sectors-2026)

**A car-carrier squeeze is building.** A shipping-line CEO tells FreightWaves that surging Chinese vehicle exports are driving a global shortage of pure car and truck carrier ships, tightening capacity for anyone moving finished vehicles. [FreightWaves.](https://www.freightwaves.com/news/china-growth-straining-global-auto-shipping-capacity-liner-ceo)

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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.