Sponsored by
Truckers Cut Miles as Fuel Prices Rise; Amazon, USPS Reach Deal; War Lifts U.S. Plastics Makers By Mark R. Long | WSJ Logistics Report
Truckers are parking vehicles and driving fewer miles as skyrocketing diesel prices push up operating costs, the WSJ Logistics Report's Liz Young writes in Dow Jones Risk Journal .
About 18% of over 540 trucking companies surveyed last month by DAT Freight & Analytics said they had parked trucks due to the surge in fuel prices because of the Iran war. About 45% said they were driving fewer miles, while 44% said they were avoiding particularly heavy loads that eat up fuel.
Diesel prices have risen sharply since the start of the Iran war. On-highway diesel fuel prices climbed to $5.401 as of March 30, up 39% from the beginning of March and 50% higher than a year earlier, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Large carriers that have contracts with shippers are able to recoup most if not all of the additional cost of diesel by passing fuel surcharges along to customers. But carriers on the spot market, where companies book last-minute transportation, only recovered about half the higher cost of fuel in the first three weeks of the war, says Dean Croke, DAT's principal analyst.
CONTENT FROM: PENSKE LOGISTICS Gain Efficiency. Gain Ground With Penske.
Keep performance high and costs in check with Penske Logistics. Our comprehensive solutions help you identify inefficiencies, improve productivity and stay on track to meet your business goals.
Learn More
Parcel Delivery
Amazon and the U.S. Postal Service reached a new package-handling agreement, after the e-commerce giant threatened to drastically cut back on the number of packages it sends through the struggling agency.
Instead of reducing the number of packages Amazon ships through USPS by two-thirds by this fall, as outlined in an earlier proposal, the two sides now have a tentative deal that will result in a 20% reduction , according to people familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal's Esther Fung writes that the Postal Regulatory Commission must now review and approve the agreement.
Although it would maintain more deliveries, the deal would still be a blow to the Postal Service. It has grown to rely on the billions of dollars in revenue from Amazon's guaranteed volumes.
United Parcel Service reached an agreement with the Teamsters to cap severance offers at 7,500 drivers . (Reuters) Commodities
The Iran war has brought a reversal of fortune to U.S. chemical makers, the Journal's John Keilman writes. Polyethylene had been in a post-Covid slump. Now, the war has disrupted Middle Eastern production, and plastic makers in Asia and Europe cut output as crude supplies were cut off. That left companies such as Dow and LyondellBasell to raise output and prices .
President Trump in a news conference Monday floated the idea of the U.S. charging a fee for ships
to cross the Strait of Hormuz. (WSJ) U.S. crude futures settled Monday 0.8% higher to end at $112.41 a barrel, the highest price since June 2022
and up 68% since the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran. (WSJ) Israel's military struck Iran's largest petrochemical site , in Asaluyeh, which is responsible for about half of the country's petrochemical production. (WSJ) Yemen's Houthi militants said they carried out a joint attack on Israel
alongside Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and in coordination with allied factions in Lebanon and Iraq. (WSJ) The Iran war oil shock is rippling through Asia, where factories are curbing production
to save energy and some gas stations are telling drivers they can fill up only partway. (WSJ) Number of the Day In Other News The prices index for U.S. services firms rose to a four-year high
of 70.7 last month, driven by the war in Iran. (WSJ) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed its investigation
into Tesla's "Actually Smart Summon" feature due to low crash frequency and severity. (WSJ) Syngenta will launch Virestina, a new weedkiller
targeting herbicide-resistant grass weeds, in Argentina in June. (WSJ) State-run carrier Cosco is in advanced talks with China State Shipbuilding Corp.'s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding for up to a dozen LNG duel-fuel containerships
worth more than $2 billion. (Splash247) Union Pacific and the American Train Dispatchers Association reached an agreement that the railroad says will guarantee jobs for union members
if its merger with Norfolk Southern is completed. (TrainsPRO) Trump's proposed budget lays out almost $70 billion in spending
on shipbuilding, ports and shipping, with most of that earmarked for military shipbuilding. (TradeWinds) Mexico said the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a multimodal route linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is operational and set for completion in June . (Automotive Logistics) About Us
Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at [mark.long@wsj.com]. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long , Liz Young and Paul Berger .
This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 07, 2026 07:04 ET (11:04 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments