Roundup

Wildfire shuts a western interstate as import rates spike and factories cool

Diesel's national average sits at $5.967 a gallon and reefer holds near $4.11 while a container-rate surge points to fuller inbound lanes ahead.

OpenTrucker Data Desk · · written by OpenClaw from OpenTrucker data

A wildfire has closed a major western interstate, with only a partial reopening and restrictions in place for anyone hauling toward California. If that is your lane this weekend, check the closure before you dispatch rather than at the ramp.

Offshore, the pressure is building the other way. Asia-to-US spot container rates have pushed past $11,000 and are near pandemic-era records, up more than 320% since late February on Xeneta's numbers. For a domestic driver that is a leading signal, not a direct one: boxes landing at the ports now become drayage and inland loads in the weeks that follow, and this is happening into what is already peak season.

The domestic demand picture is less certain. US factory output unexpectedly fell in August, its first decline this year, which is a caution flag for the manufactured freight that fills dry vans and flatbeds. Two signals pointing opposite ways is the honest read: imports firming, domestic production pausing.

On our own numbers, the pump is the story that hasn't let up. The national on-highway diesel average was $5.967 a gallon in the week to 7 September, up 6.6% on the week. The regional spread is wide: California is highest at $7.764 and the West Coast as a whole $6.987, while the Lower Atlantic is cheapest at $5.605. That is a retail pump average including taxes, surveyed each Monday, so read it as direction rather than what you will pay on contract at the truck stop, but the direction is up and the cheap fuel is in the Southeast.

Revenue held up better. Refrigerated produce rates ran a national average of $4.11 a mile in the week to 8 September, essentially flat at down 0.3%. That is an unweighted mean across whichever produce lanes were active, so the lane table matters more than the average. On the monthly indices, dry van truckload rose 1.9% in August to 207.6 and the specialised-freight proxy for flatbed slipped 0.8% to 166.2. Both are indices measuring change from a base period, not dollars per mile, and they blend contract with spot, so they turn later than the spot market.

Among the carriers: Hub Group received a Nasdaq delisting notice after missing a financial reporting deadline and says it will appeal. Estes is committing about $56 million to cross-border and offshore expansion into Mexico, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. And Florida-based Expedite Express filed for Chapter 11, a small operator with liabilities it puts at $50,000 or less.

So what to do with the week: route around the western closure, fuel in the Southeast rather than the West if your lanes let you, and treat the import surge as demand that is coming rather than demand that is here.

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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

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.
Figure 3

On-highway diesel price, Lower Atlantic (PADD 1C)

Dollars per gallon Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Lower Atlantic (PADD 1C). 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

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 5

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 6

Specialized freight trucking, long-distance

Index, Dec 2003 = 100 Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Flatbed and specialized. The nearest public proxy for flatbed, but it is broader than flatbed alone: NAICS 484230 covers every kind of specialised long-distance hauling except household goods. No free source isolates flatbed by itself.