Diesel prices rise for seventh straight week

Diesel prices continued a steady rise this week, heading up 1.1 cents to $2.597 per gallon, according to data issued this week by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).

This marks the seventh straight weekly increase for diesel prices, with the average price per gallon now up a cumulative 17.7 cents going back to the week of November 28.

Compared to the same week a year ago, the average price per gallon is up 42 cents. What’s more, this week’s average price is within less than 2 cents of the recent high of $2.615 per gallon, which was recorded the week of August 17, 2015, according to EIA data.

The average price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate Crude is at $51.93 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Shippers are vigilant in keeping a watchful eye on fuel prices, due to the fact that in most modes they’re paying a fairly high percentage in terms of their average fuel surcharge above standard base rates. That was made clear in the findings of a recent Logistics Management (LM) readership study of more than 200 buyers of freight transportation and logistics services.

According to the survey, 5.5% of respondents noted that average fuel surcharges were more than 20% above base rates, with 11.4% noting that they were 16% to 20% higher.

And 17.9% and 24.9% of shippers said they were in the 11% to 15% and 6% to 10% ranges, respectively, with 28.4% stating that their average fuel surcharges were 5% or less above base rates.