Diesel fuel’s national average is down for the third week in a row, but rates are still headed north based on Truckstop.com and FTR Transportation Intelligence’s weekly update.
The total spot broker-posted rate for the week ending April 24 increased 3.4 cents/mile -- the smallest increase in nine weeks -- after rising 6 cents the prior week. All-in broker-posted rates were close to 30% higher than in the same week last year, while rates excluding a calculated surcharge were nearly 23% higher.
Truckstop.com and FTR noted that the all-in spot rate is the highest since the firms began calculating a total market rate in 2014, but when a fuel surcharge is pulled out, that rate is still more than 20 cents/mile below the highest level observed at the end of 2021.
While overall spot rates during the most recent week were up, dry van spot rates fell by 4.5 cents/mile to $2.52/mile -- about 37% higher than in the same week last year, while rates excluding fuel surcharges were up nearly 29%. Likewise, reefer spot rates fell 6.4 cents last week to $2.92/mile, still 34% higher than they were during the same 2025 week, or 26% higher when excluding surcharges.
Flatbed rates, on the other hand, continued to surge, rising by just under 5 cents/mile to $3.38/mile. The all-in flatbed rate is the highest since late June 2022, and the rate excluding surcharges is the highest since early that same month in 2022.
During the big run-up in fuel from the week ending March 9 through the week ending April 20 -- when fuel prices fell 20.5 cents nationally -- all-in dry van and refrigerated spot rates increased by about 25 cents each, FTR and Truckstop said. Flatbed spot rates, though, surged nearly 66 cents.
With the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s annual International Roadcheck on the horizon on May 12-14, the firms project that “this year’s Roadcheck seems likely to result in another record for spot rates regardless of what happens between now and then.”
[Related: ELD tampering in crosshairs for CVSA’s annual Roadcheck blitz]
Diesel slowly moderating from recent near-record highs
National average diesel fell another 5.2 cents to $5.35/gal. nationwide, according to the Energy Information Administration. Every region across the country saw a decrease last week except for the Rocky Mountain region, with a 5.7-cent increase.
The largest fall came in California, a 9.7-cent drop during the week to a still eye-popping $7.23/gal. All other regions are averaging below $6/gal.
Apart from California, diesel prices by region, according to EIA:
- New England -- $5.83
- Central Atlantic -- $5.84
- Lower Atlantic -- $5.23
- Midwest -- $5.13
- Gulf Coast -- $5.01
- Rocky Mountain -- $5.27
- West Coast less California -- $5.93
ProMiles’ diesel averages during the same week fell by 14.5 cents to $5.17/gal. nationwide. According to the ProMiles Fuel Surcharge Index, the most expensive diesel can be found in California at $6.20/gal., and the cheapest in the Rocky Mountain region at $4.91.
Related resources:
- Short form to download a compendium of 80 different ways to improve your diesel's MPG:
- Partners in Business: Controlling fuel costs, analyzing surcharges
- More ways to take the horror out of high fuel
