What the record is
US average on-highway diesel reached $6.285 a gallon for the week of September 14, up 31.8 cents in a week. A year earlier it was $3.739, so the price is up about 68%.
That is the highest reading in EIA's weekly series, which begins in 1994. It's a nominal record. Adjusted for inflation the 2008 peak was higher, and it's worth saying so before someone else does.
The national average also hides a wide spread. The West Coast averaged $7.250, with California at $8.039 inside that region, while the Gulf Coast averaged $6.027. Regular gasoline came in at $4.319, up 16.2 cents.
The surcharges land next week
Carrier surcharges are set from fuel prices that have already been published, which means next week's increases are already fixed.
FedEx's own table has its Ground surcharge going to 29.00% for September 21-27, from 28.00% the week before. Domestic Express goes to 32.25% from 30.50%, and International Export and Import to 44.50% from 42.50%. All three step up in the same week, and the Ground figure is pegged to the record diesel price above.
On the water, CMA CGM's revised emergency fuel surcharge starts October 1 by loading date: US$265 per TEU for dry head-haul cargo, US$320 for reefer, and US$75 and US$90 on back hauls. We read that advisory through American Journal of Transportation's reproduction rather than CMA CGM's own notice, so confirm the amounts against what your carrier sends you.
The barrel has already turned
Crude peaked mid-month and has come off. Brent settled at $104.82 on September 17 and WTI at $101.91, a second consecutive session of decline.
Retail diesel and carrier surcharges follow crude by weeks, so the announced increases will arrive regardless. What the crude move argues against is extrapolating them.
Against that, EIA's September outlook expects distillate inventories to stay below the 2021-2025 five-year low through the end of 2026 and most of 2027, with average diesel crack spreads above $2 a gallon from August through November. One caveat travels with it: EIA completed that forecast on September 3, before both the record diesel print and the mid-September crude spike.
Where it lands on your BOM
Fuel doesn't reach every line equally, and a memo saying it does will be wrong in a way your customers can check.
Freight is a meaningful share of cost on low value-density lines: bulk passives, connectors, cable assemblies, enclosures and power supplies. On semiconductors, which carry a high value per kilo, the same freight cost is a much smaller share of landed cost. Expedites are where it shows up fastest, because air surcharges move first and an expedite is already a premium decision.
Price the exposure by lane and by line.
What Buyers Should Do Now
- Before October 1: Check the loading dates on booked ocean containers. Cargo loading on or after October 1 on the affected trades carries CMA CGM's new surcharge, so confirm scope against your own booking and pull forward what you can.
- This week: Find out whether your inbound freight terms reset weekly, monthly or quarterly. A weekly-reset surcharge passes the record straight through; a quarterly one leaves the cost sitting with whichever party is slower to reprice.
- For Q4 budgets: Plan against elevated distillate rather than a quick return to last year's rates, and quote low value-density lines and expedites separately so the freight component stays visible.