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The Daily
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NEWSLETTER BROUGHT TO YOU BY — AURORA
More Miles. More Revenue. Our self-driving Class-8 trucks haul freight on public roads today with no one behind the wheel. Learn more.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Russian diesel deal having limited impact, if any, on prices
Diesel prices have shown little reaction so far to the Trump administration’s deal to buy Russian diesel, according to John Kingston’s reporting. ULSD futures settled Oct. 6 at $4.5694 per gallon, rose to more than $4.88 within two days, and settled Monday at $4.7232, down 1.52 cents. The article says it was unclear the deal had any impact. At 10:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday, futures were at $4.8185, up 9.53 cents, or 2.02%, with an intraday low of $4.6431.
Retail prices have eased. The AAA daily diesel average fell for 17 straight days, from $6.5276 per gallon on Sept. 22 to $6.2785 on Friday, and has been roughly flat since. DTS USA’s average retail diesel in SONAR was $6.32 on Tuesday, and the latest DOE/EIA price is $6.199, effective Oct. 5. The next DOE/EIA release was delayed to Wednesday by the Columbus Day holiday.
Under the deal, Russia is to supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel immediately, about 2.235 million barrels by S&P Global Energy’s conversion, then 500,000 tonnes in November and 1 million tonnes "soon after." CSIS fellow Masha Kotkin, quoted by S&P Global Energy, said the amount Russia can provide "would be a drop in the bucket compared to global demand." Ellen Wald of Transversal Consulting said, "Any attempts to bring them down that aren’t actual new sources of supply don’t really last."
The first 300,000 metric tons works out to about 2.235 million barrels, less than one day of U.S. non-jet distillate consumption of about 3.65 million barrels per day, per EIA. Analysts quoted in the article describe the volume as small against global demand.
Bot Auto taps Lenovo, Nvidia, pegs autonomy hardware at $50,000
Bot Auto, a Houston company, selected Lenovo’s AD1 domain controller, built on Nvidia Hyperion, as the production computer for its Class 8 driverless trucks, according to Thomas Wasson’s reporting. AD1 deployment starts in Q1 2027, and Bot Auto expects full autonomy hardware, including compute and sensors, to cost $50,000 per truck. The company says revenue grew 270% from May to August and that it moves about 350 loads a month across Texas. In April it completed a 231-mile overnight run on I-45 from Houston to Hutchins with no safety driver, remote operator or in-cab observer. Founder and CEO Xiaodi Hou said, "We made a deliberate choice not to scale our fleet until the compute platform itself is scalable."
Bot Auto and Lenovo plan to show the system at CES 2027 in January. The $50,000 figure is Bot Auto’s expectation, and the company has set a goal of 1 billion autonomous miles by 2031.
Shippers waiting an extra week for US-bound containers
Global schedule reliability fell 2 points to 27% in September, the fourth straight monthly decline, according to Stuart Chirls’ reporting on Xeneta’s September Schedule Reliability Scorecard. The average delay was 6 days across all arrivals, up 2.4 days since the start of the second quarter. On Asia-North America, on-time performance held at 20% while the average delay rose 0.8 days to 6.9 days, and Far East-Europe fell to 4% on time with a 9.9-day average delay, its worst month since September 2021. China-U.S. West Coast spot rates were $7,717 per FEU in early October, more than four times the $1,778 of September 2025, and long-term rates rose 26% from September to $3,649 per FEU on Oct. 1. Singapore’s average daily vessel queue nearly doubled to 22 ships.
Xeneta advises allowing more lead time for October bookings and asking carriers which services are protected from cuts. Announced October blank sailings are at least 17% of Far East-Europe capacity and 13% of Far East-North America capacity.
Despite new record, Port of LA chief warns of tariff-driven planning risk
Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said September was the port’s best month ever, crediting lower tariff levels, steady consumer demand and cargo diverted from constrained Panama Canal and Suez routes, according to Stuart Chirls’ reporting. September imports were 546,000 loaded TEUs, up 19% year over year and 26% above the five-year average, and loaded exports rose 10% to 126,000 TEUs. Empty containers hit a record 371,000. Vietnam is now the port’s second-largest trading partner behind China, and Thailand entered the top five for the first time. Seroka said China’s share of port business fell from 60% to 40%, though diversification has been slower than many importers want, and he expects October volume of about 900,000 TEUs. Harvard Business School professor Willy Shih said companies are "optimizing for options" rather than lowest cost.
Seroka called tariffs a central source of uncertainty and said Asian purchase orders remain solid, but November and December are hard to forecast. Shih said apparent shifts away from China often reflect changes in final assembly.
CSX operations chief to retire
CSX Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Cory is retiring and will provide transition services through May 8, 2027, according to Stuart Chirls’ reporting. Cory came out of retirement to join the railroad in September 2023, after retiring as EVP and COO of CN in 2019. CSX did not immediately name a successor. Doug Ryhorchuk, senior vice president of Operations, and Casey Albright, senior vice president of Network Operations and Service Design, will report directly to President and CEO Steve Angel. Angel credited Cory with helping drive safety and productivity to record levels.
CSX has no named successor, and the article does not say how Cory’s duties will be divided. Ryhorchuk spent nearly four decades at CN before joining CSX in 2024, and Albright has nearly 30 years at CSX.
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| Time | Guest | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 12pm | Todd Maiden | Finance Editor at FreightWaves; earnings season kickoff |
| 12:30pm | Jordan Kidd | Head of Product, Datatruck; state of freight |
| 12:45pm | Bill Stephens | Editor of Trains Magazine |
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White Paper: Q3 2026 Shipper Rate Report
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Canada Tariffs Are Changing Freight Strategy FastFreightWaves looks at how Canada tariffs are changing freight strategy. |
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Diesel Prices Surge 20 Cents: Why the Fuel Market is in CrisisFreightWaves looks at the 20-cent surge in diesel prices and the state of the fuel market. |
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Whether the next DOE/EIA price confirms the retail slideThe next DOE/EIA diesel price was delayed to Wednesday by the holiday. Watch whether it reflects the 17-day AAA decline and whether futures hold near $4.82. |
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Whether container reliability finds a floorXeneta’s analyst does not expect a firm floor in October, and announced blank sailings are at least 17% on Far East-Europe and 13% on Far East-North America. Watch the October scorecard. |
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Who takes over CSX operationsCSX has not named a successor to Mike Cory. Watch for an announcement and for how Ryhorchuk and Albright divide the duties. |
