Fuel surcharge calculator
The fuel surcharge per mile from the current diesel price, the base price built into your rate and the truck's fuel economy, with the total for a load and the all-in rate.
Inputs
Result
Surcharge at nearby diesel prices
Same base price and mpg. Your current price is marked.
| Diesel, $/gal | Per mile | This load |
|---|
The formula
The linehaul rate already assumes fuel at some price, the base. When diesel rises above it, the carrier's extra cost per mile is the extra cost per gallon divided by how many miles a gallon goes. At $3.85 diesel, a $1.25 base and 6 mpg, that is $2.60 ÷ 6, or about 43 cents a mile.
The base price is the whole negotiation
Shippers fixate on the rate and forget the base. A higher base price means a smaller surcharge every week for the life of the contract. On 100,000 miles a year at 6 mpg, every 10 cents of base price is worth about $1,700. Fuel economy works the same way: agreeing 6.5 mpg instead of 6 trims the surcharge by about 8%.
Where the diesel price comes from
Most contracts use the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly retail on-highway diesel price, published every Monday, either the national average or a regional one. The surcharge for the week follows that number, so it moves every week whether or not the carrier's own fuel bill does.
LTL works differently
LTL carriers do not use a per-mile formula. Each publishes a table that maps the same weekly DOE price to a percentage of the linehaul charge, and the percentages differ by carrier. The percentage shown above is the equivalent of the per-mile figure for this load, which is useful for comparison, but the surcharge on an LTL invoice comes from that carrier's own table.
Questions
How do you calculate a fuel surcharge?
Subtract the base fuel price from the current diesel price, then divide by the truck's mpg. That gives the surcharge per mile. With diesel at $3.85, a $1.25 base and 6 mpg, it is $2.60 ÷ 6, about $0.43 a mile, or $433 on a 1,000 mile load.
What is a base fuel price?
The diesel price already built into the linehaul rate. Only the part of the current price above the base is surcharged, so a higher base means a smaller surcharge. Bases between about $1.20 and $2.50 are common, set when the contract is written.
What mpg do carriers use for fuel surcharge?
Most contracts use 5.5 to 6.5 mpg for a loaded tractor-trailer, and 6 is the most common default. A higher figure produces a smaller surcharge, so it is worth negotiating.
Where do I find the current diesel price?
The U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes the weekly retail on-highway diesel price every Monday, as a national average and by region. Most fuel surcharge programs reference it.
Is the fuel surcharge a percentage or per mile?
Truckload and brokered freight usually use cents per mile. LTL carriers usually use a percentage of the linehaul charge, read from their own published table. Both track the same weekly DOE diesel price.
More LTL freight calculators
Freight class calculator
Freight class from your pallet dimensions and weight, on the 13-sub NMFC density scale.
Freight density calculator
Pounds per cubic foot for one piece or a pallet, and the class band it falls in.
Pallet calculator
Cartons per pallet with a real packing solver, and how many pallets fit in a truck or container.