DHL eCommerce will update its domestic fuel surcharge table effective February 1, 2026, raising the per-pound surcharge by a flat $0.04 at every diesel price bracket while keeping the same 15-tier structure and $1.14–$7.00/gallon range. The surcharge will continue to be indexed monthly against the U.S. DOE national on-highway diesel average from two months prior. The net effect for shippers: a permanent per-pound cost increase on every domestic eCommerce shipment regardless of where fuel prices sit.
The new table will be uniformly more expensive than its predecessor. Every one of the 15 brackets will receive an identical $0.04/lb increase—from $0.01–$0.15 under the current schedule to $0.05–$0.19 under the new one. The tier boundaries, fuel index source, and monthly update cadence will all remain unchanged, making this a clean rate increase rather than a structural overhaul. In proportional terms, the impact will be heaviest at the low end of the fuel curve: the lowest bracket will jump 400% ($0.01 → $0.05), while the highest will rise roughly 27% ($0.15 → $0.19). DHL has reserved the right to expand or modify the table without notice if fuel prices move beyond the displayed range.
IMPACT ON SHIPPERS This will affect all DHL eCommerce domestic products—Expedited Max, Expedited, and Ground parcel and mail services. Because the surcharge is assessed per pound, heavier shipments will absorb proportionally more cost. A 10 lb package, for example, will carry $0.40/shipment in additional fuel surcharge at every fuel price level. Shippers with negotiated rate cards or fuel caps benchmarked to the current table should review those agreements before February 1, as the $0.04 structural increase will erode any previously negotiated savings. Finance teams should also update landed-cost models, since current-table assumptions will understate actual surcharge exposure by roughly 30–50% depending on the diesel price bracket.
💡 A flat $0.04/lb increase will apply uniformly across all 15 fuel price tiers—this will be a permanent structural increase baked into the new table.
💡 The tier boundaries and monthly DOE-indexed cadence will remain unchanged, so the update mechanism will stay the same—just more expensive.
💡 Proportional impact will be steepest at lower fuel prices, where the surcharge will effectively quadruple in the bottom bracket.
💡 All domestic eCommerce products will be affected: Expedited Max, Expedited, and Ground parcel and mail.
💡 Shippers should audit contractual fuel caps and rate agreements against the new table to quantify added exposure before the February 1 effective date.
