Monthly Report · September 2026
State of Cross-Border Freight
September 2026: U.S. on-highway diesel up 12.4%, UPS parcel fuel surcharge +0.00 pts, and Canada-US border waits up 1 minutes on average.
Published October 1, 2026 · Covers 2026-09-01 to 2026-09-30
EIA Diesel Avg
$6.08/gal
▲ 12.4% MoM
UPS / FedEx FSC
24.00% / 24.50%
▼ 0.00 pts MoM
Network Avg Border Wait
2 min
▲ 1 min MoM
Diesel: weekly EIA national average
The U.S. on-highway diesel index averaged $6.08/gal in September 2026, a up 12.4% change from August's $5.41/gal — and up 0.0% year over year.
Weekly EIA on-highway national diesel price · weeks ending Aug 30 – Oct 4, 2026
Diesel climbed through the month. The week-ending high was $6.53 versus a low of $5.60, a swing of 0.93 per gallon. That works out to roughly $6 in added fuel cost per 1,000-mile dry-van trip (at 6.5 mpg).
Fuel surcharges: parcel and LTL
Carriers reset fuel surcharges weekly off the EIA index. Below is the monthly average effective surcharge on each carrier's published table, plus an LTL composite drawn from the major carriers' national tariffs.
| Carrier / Mode | Sep 2026 avg | Prior month | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPS Ground (parcel) | 24.00% | 24.00% | ▼ 0.00 pts |
| FedEx Ground (parcel) | 24.50% | 24.50% | ▼ 0.00 pts |
| LTL composite (dry) | 49.0% | 45.7% | ▲ 3.3 pts |
| Reefer LTL composite | 55.5% | 52.2% | ▲ 3.3 pts |
| Reefer FTL spot ($/mi) | $0.89 | $0.76 | ▲ $0.12 |
LTL composite reflects the simple average of Old Dominion, XPO, Saia, and Estes published national tables applied to the month's diesel average.
Canada–US border waits
Correction, 1 September 2026: the border wait figures in this issue are part passenger lane, part commercial truck lane, because of a parser defect in our data collection that was fixed on 1 September 2026 — part-way through the month this issue covers. Readings taken before the fix are passenger lane; readings after it are commercial. The methodology note below describes them all as commercial-truck readings, which is only true of the later ones. Figures from October 2026 onward are commercial throughout. Diesel prices and fuel surcharge figures in this issue are unaffected.
Network-wide border wait time averaged 2 minutes across the CBSA reporting crossings — up 1 minutes from the previous month. The three busiest GTA-corridor and BC crossings:
Surrey, BC ↔ Blaine, WA
Pacific Highway
9 min
▲ 3 min vs prior month
Prior: 6 min
Fort Erie, ON ↔ Buffalo, NY
Peace Bridge
6 min
▲ 3 min vs prior month
Prior: 3 min
Windsor, ON ↔ Detroit, MI
Ambassador Bridge
2 min
▲ 2 min vs prior month
Prior: 0 min
From the CargoTools desk
— CargoTools Editorial Team
What this means for your shipping costs
- → Parcel: Parcel fuel surcharges held flat versus last month. No material change in your line-item exposure.
- → LTL: On a $400 LTL line-haul, fuel surcharge ran roughly $13.20 higher per shipment than last month. Verify your carrier didn't over-pass it through with our FSC auditor.
- → Cross-border: Border waits held roughly steady. Check our live Border Wait Times dashboard before dispatch.
Use these data points in your workflow
Tool
Live Fuel Surcharge Tracker →
UPS and FedEx surcharges this week, updated from EIA diesel automatically.
Tool
FSC Auditor →
Was your fuel surcharge fair? Compare carrier billing against the EIA standard.
Tool
Border Wait Times →
Live commercial-truck wait times across all CBSA crossings.
Tool
USMCA Checker →
Confirm your shipment qualifies for duty-free Canada–US–Mexico treatment.
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Methodology & sources
Diesel prices reflect the EIA's published U.S. weekly on-highway average aggregated across daily snapshots taken during the month. Parcel fuel surcharge percentages are computed using each carrier's published indexed-rate table applied to that day's diesel price, then averaged. LTL fuel surcharge reflects an industry composite of major national carriers (Old Dominion, XPO, Saia, Estes) regressed against diesel. Border wait times in this issue are a MIX of passenger-lane and commercial-truck readings sourced from CBSA — passenger before the 1 September 2026 parser fix, commercial after it — averaged across the covered month; see the correction in the border section above.