Fuel Surcharge Calculator
Work out the fuel surcharge on any lane from the current DOE diesel average. No sign-up, no email, and the formula is shown so you can check it against your own contract.
DOE national average diesel
$5.652 / gal
Week ending 2026-08-24 · edit the field below for the current week
Check EIAYour numbers
EIA national average, week ending 2026-08-24. Edit for a different week.
The peg in your contract. $1.25 is a common default — check yours.
6.0 is the industry convention for a loaded tractor-trailer.
Miles for the move you are pricing.
Add it to see the all-in rate per mile.
Fuel surcharge
Surcharge per mile
$0.734
- Total fuel surcharge
- $176.08
Formula
($5.652 − $1.250) ÷ 6 MPG = $0.734 per mile
How the surcharge works
A fuel surcharge separates the part of a freight rate that moves with diesel from the part that does not. Rather than renegotiating the linehaul every time the market moves, both sides agree a base price and a formula, and the surcharge floats.
The three numbers that matter are the reference price, the base, and the assumed MPG. The reference is almost always the DOE weekly national average. The base is whatever was agreed. The MPG is conventionally 6.0 — and note that a lower assumed MPG produces a higher surcharge, which is why it is fixed in the contract rather than measured.
Regional DOE averages exist and some contracts use them instead of the national figure. If yours does, put that number in the field rather than the national one.
Common questions
- How is a fuel surcharge calculated?
- Subtract the base fuel price in your contract from the current DOE national average diesel price, then divide by the truck's miles per gallon. That gives a surcharge per mile, which is multiplied by the loaded miles. The standard formula is (DOE price − base price) ÷ MPG.
- What base fuel price should I use?
- Whatever your contract says. $1.25 per gallon is a long-standing convention and a common default, but bases vary widely between shippers and brokers, and a different base changes the surcharge substantially. Check the agreement rather than assuming.
- Where does the DOE diesel price come from?
- The U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes a national average on-highway diesel price every Monday. It is the reference nearly every fuel surcharge in US trucking is written against.
- What MPG should I assume?
- 6.0 miles per gallon is the industry convention for a loaded tractor-trailer and is what most surcharge schedules assume. A more efficient truck lowers the calculated surcharge, which is why the MPG figure is usually fixed in the contract rather than measured.
- What happens if diesel falls below the base price?
- No surcharge applies. Standard contracts floor the surcharge at zero rather than running it negative and crediting the shipper.
Want the whole rate, not just the fuel?
Send us the lane and we will quote linehaul and surcharge together — within the hour during business hours.