IA Insights: September 8, 2026

Trade, Policy and Cost Pressure

• U.S. diesel reached a record national average of $5.85 per gallon, up from $3.71 a year earlier, extending fuel-cost pressure across trucking and other transportation networks.
  
  
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection is considering stricter importer disclosures, including foreign customs filings and more information about upstream sourcing, with comments on the proposed rules due Dec. 1.
  
  
• Thirty-six percent of surveyed OEMs have reshored or are actively reshoring, up from 29% last year, while 63% plan domestic investments despite widespread concern about tariff and policy uncertainty.
  
  
• Retailers are reducing product variety to concentrate purchasing on bestsellers, simplify supply chains and limit exposure to tariffs, transportation expenses and inventory risk.

Land: Trucking, Rail and Infrastructure

• The average shipper-paid dry-van spot rate for lanes longer than 250 miles declined five cents in August to $3.22 per mile, the first monthly drop since November, even as load postings rose and available truck postings fell.
  
  
• Federal enforcement is placing additional pressure on driver supply: DOT removed more than 110 training providers associated with over 5,000 drivers who failed English-proficiency tests, while Roadcheck data showed 620 drivers without a CDL and 1,072 without a medical certificate among those taken out of service.
  
  
• Weekly U.S. rail traffic increased 4.1% year over year, with intermodal volume up 5.7% and carloads up 2.2% as steelmaking inputs, petroleum products and grain led commodity gains.
  
  
• DOT’s new America’s Great Corridors of Commerce initiative would allow highway and railroad rights-of-way to carry electrical transmission, fiber, water pipelines and other utilities, with lease revenue directed toward transportation infrastructure repairs.

Sea: Ocean, Ports and Global Freight

• Panama Canal constraints are disrupting Asia-to-U.S. supply chains as daily transits fall from 36 to 32 by Sept. 15 and priority-auction prices reach a record $5.3 million; carriers are already diverting vessels around the Cape of Good Hope or through Suez, omitting congested Chinese ports and shifting cargo toward the U.S. West Coast.
  
  
• Global container schedule reliability fell to 56.4% in July, its sharpest monthly decline since January 2021, while Shanghai’s on-time performance dropped to a record-low 21%.
  
  
• Global container fleet capacity is approaching a record 34 million TEUs, a 42% increase in five and a half years, with more than 14 million additional TEUs already scheduled for delivery through 2030.
  
  
• Ocean carriers now own terminals handling approximately half of major operators’ throughput, increasing the Big Five carriers’ control over capacity and operations while reducing neutral terminal options for competitors and shippers.
  
  
• Trailer Bridge and Ports America signed a 10-year agreement covering stevedoring and terminal technology for the Jacksonville-San Juan trade, including a new operating system intended to improve cargo tracking and visibility.

Parcel and E-Commerce

• Amazon Shipping will apply higher peak-season surcharges from Oct. 25 through Jan. 16, with charges peaking from Nov. 22 through Dec. 26 at $0.75 per package, $11.90 for additional handling, $117.50 for large packages and $590 for extra-heavy packages.
  
  
• UPS is standardizing operational processes under a new global structure as it shifts from traditional parcel delivery toward integrated logistics and higher-value markets, following the elimination of roughly two million daily Amazon packages and closure of 150 sort centers.
  
  
• Consumers continue to prefer boxes over mailer bags for e-commerce deliveries, with sustainability gaining importance and 67% of surveyed shoppers saying they would purchase again from a brand offering returnless refunds.

Air Cargo

• Global air cargo volume increased 6% year over year in August while average spot rates rose 24% to $3.13 per kilogram, supported by Asian exports and AI-related shipments as dedicated freighter availability remains constrained.
  
  
• A 21 Air-operated Amazon Air Boeing 767 overran a runway at Miami International Airport, killing five people and seriously injuring five; two of the airport’s four runways remained closed Monday as investigators examined the wreckage and crews addressed spilled fuel at the major international cargo hub.

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