Parcel fuel surcharges spike

FedEx and UPS fuel surcharges have jumped high enough in April that many shippers now treat them as a separate line item, not just background inflation. (supplychaindive.com) The latest TD Cowen/AFS Freight Index said ground parcel pricing is on track for a third straight record quarter, with the Q2 2026 index projected at 42.0%, up 1.9% from Q1 and 6.6% from a year earlier. AFS said elevated fuel surcharges and general rate increases pushed the ground parcel rate-per-package index to 39.3% in Q1. (afs.net) In the first quarter, diesel prices rose about 10% year over year, but ground fuel surcharges climbed 26.7%, according to the TD Cowen/AFS data cited by FreightWaves. The report said frequent fuel-table adjustments let FedEx and UPS capture more revenue as fuel prices spiked in March. (finance.yahoo.com, prnewswire.com) Fuel surcharges are formula-based fees that move with energy benchmarks, usually diesel for ground parcels and jet fuel for air parcels. FedEx says its Ground, Home Delivery, International Ground and pickup surcharges are adjusted weekly from the U.S. national on-highway diesel average, and UPS says its U.S. Ground Domestic surcharge is also adjusted weekly from the Energy Information Administration diesel index. (fedex.com, ups.com) The pressure is sharper now because carriers have changed the tables themselves, not just passed through higher pump prices. UPS put new domestic fuel surcharge tables into effect on March 9, 2026, and again on April 13, 2026, while keeping the same diesel benchmark and weekly reset. (ups.com) Under UPS’s current table, a national diesel price between $4.81 and $4.90 a gallon triggers a 25.50% ground surcharge, and $4.99 to $5.08 triggers 26.00%. UPS says those thresholds took effect April 13. (assets.ups.com) FedEx says its ground surcharge also changes weekly and that the trigger points and percentages are “subject to change without notice.” On its current U.S. schedule, once diesel is at or above $3.55 a gallon, the surcharge rises by 0.25 percentage point for each $0.09 move in diesel. (fedex.com) The diesel benchmark behind those fees is still elevated. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported the national on-highway diesel average at $5.608 a gallon for the week of April 13, 2026, down from $5.643 a week earlier but up from $3.639 a year earlier. (eia.gov, fred.stlouisfed.org) That has changed how parcel buyers read invoices. Analysts told Supply Chain Dive that shippers are looking more closely at surcharge spend, especially on ground networks, because fuel fees can now change carrier rankings even when base transportation rates look similar. (supplychaindive.com) Rival networks are moving the same way. FreightWaves reported that Amazon Logistics planned a 3.5% fuel surcharge for merchants on April 17, and the Postal Service has proposed an 8% parcel fuel surcharge starting April 26, pending Postal Regulatory Commission approval. (finance.yahoo.com, sifted.com) For now, the weekly diesel print still feeds directly into parcel bills, and the tables themselves are moving too. That leaves shippers watching surcharge lines with the same attention they used to reserve for headline shipping rates. (fedex.com, ups.com, supplychaindive.com)