U.S. Diesel Prices Rise Above $6.28 per Gallon
As of September 14, the U.S. national average diesel price rose above $6.28 per gallon, putting upward pressure on cross-border logistics and domestic U.S. delivery costs.
What are the key facts?
- 1U.S. national average diesel price exceeded $6.28 per gallon as of September 14
- 2Diesel prices rose approximately $0.69 from August 31
- 3Diesel costs may pass through to cross-border logistics and delivery stages
- 4Sellers need to recalculate multiple logistics and sales costs
What happened?
Supply Chain Dive reported on September 18, 2026, that the U.S. national average diesel price had risen above $6.28 per gallon as of September 14, up approximately $0.69 from August 31 and reaching a new high. Diesel costs are typically passed on to cross-border ecommerce sellers through fuel surcharges, trucking rates, warehouse transfer fees, port drayage charges and parcel delivery fees. For sellers shipping to the U.S. from China, Southeast Asia or Europe, the impact may affect international line-haul transportation as well as port-to-fulfillment-center, fulfillment-center-to-local-distribution-center and last-mile delivery stages. Sellers with low average order values, low margins, high dimensional weight, heavy reliance on parcel and truck transportation, or no cap on fuel surcharges negotiated with logistics providers may be affected more severely. If peak-season demand continues to rise in the fourth quarter, sellers need to recalculate landed costs including taxes, fulfillment-center replenishment costs and minimum promotional prices, rather than continuing to use logistics cost models developed in the first half of this year.
What does this mean for cross-border sellers?
U.S. diesel prices above $6.28 per gallon may continue to flow through to sellers via fuel surcharges, trucking, port drayage, warehouse transfers and final-mile delivery. Prioritize recalculating landed costs, fulfillment-center replenishment costs and minimum promotional prices for low-AOV, low-margin or high-dimensional-weight products, as well as products without a negotiated fuel-surcharge cap.
What should sellers do now?
- 1This week, enter current logistics, warehousing and delivery costs for major U.S. stores and key SKUs into the profit model, review margins after diesel exceeded $6.28 per gallon and rose approximately $0.69 from August 31, and create an SKU cost and risk list.Profit calculator
- 2For U.S. listings with high dimensional weight, measure package length, width and height individually and verify billable weight; identify SKUs with a high logistics-cost ratio and complete a dimensional-weight checklist organized by product, packaging specifications and optimization priority.Dimensional weight
- 3Recalculate minimum promotional prices and break-even points for low-AOV and low-margin products on the U.S. site, covering international line-haul, port-to-fulfillment-center, in-warehouse transfer and last-mile costs, and produce an actionable price-reduction restriction list.Breakeven calculator
- 4This week, verify U.S. port drayage, fulfillment-center replenishment and parcel-delivery quotes with carriers, require them to specify the fuel-surcharge calculation method and whether a cap is locked in, compare their responses item by item with the current cost model, and complete a variance log.