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Gasoline costs have develop into one of the seen symbols of strain on companies and shoppers. For corporations depending on logistics, nevertheless, the impact extends far past what it prices to fill a car.
Gasoline feeds into street transport, warehousing, distribution, delivery and in the end the price of shifting items by way of more and more advanced provide chains. When vitality markets develop into unstable, these pressures can transfer rapidly by way of freight networks and into the costs companies pay.
In South Africa, that strain grew to become notably seen in September 2026. From 2 September, each grades of petrol elevated by R1.29 a litre. Wholesale diesel elevated by R2.939 a litre for 0.05% sulphur diesel and R3.149 a litre for 0.005% sulphur diesel.[1]
The Division of Mineral and Petroleum Assets mentioned the common Brent crude worth elevated from $82.37 to $87.85 a barrel through the evaluate interval. It cited continued US-Iran tensions, uncertainty over oil flows by way of the Strait of Hormuz and better delivery prices, alongside shortages in worldwide petroleum-product markets.[1]
The worldwide surroundings stays unstable. On 9 September, Brent crude moved again above $100 a barrel as renewed battle within the Center East raised considerations about oil provides and delivery by way of the Gulf.[2]
For logistics companies and their prospects, this creates an essential query. Rising prices are actual, however how ought to corporations decide which will increase are unavoidable and which needs to be challenged?
For Craig du Toit, Managing Director of RSA World Forwarding South Africa, intervals of volatility reveal an essential distinction between merely supplying logistics providers and actively serving to prospects handle supply-chain threat.
“Companies shouldn’t be asking whether or not gas costs have an effect on logistics – they undoubtedly do. The extra essential query is how corporations reply to these pressures. The gas disaster is actual, and nobody in our trade is resistant to it. Each cargo, each supply and each kilometre travelled prices extra at present than it did a 12 months in the past. Anybody can clarify why costs are rising. The true worth lies in exhibiting prospects what you’re doing to minimise these will increase. That’s the distinction between a logistics supplier and a logistics companion.”
Gasoline is just one a part of the freight invoice
The next diesel worth has an apparent impact on street transport, however logistics pricing is never decided by gas alone.
Freight charges will also be affected by vessel capability, port congestion, insurance coverage, foreign money actions, labour prices, tools availability, route diversions and modifications in demand. These variables imply that the impact of an vitality shock can differ significantly between commerce routes, transport modes and particular person companies.
World container markets illustrate that complexity. Drewry’s World Container Index stood at $4,465 per 40-foot container on 3 September 2026. The general index was steady week on week, however actions on particular person routes assorted considerably. Shanghai-to-Los Angeles spot charges elevated 5% to $7,185 per 40-foot container, for instance, whereas Asia-Europe routes moved in the wrong way.[3]
Drewry’s September market evaluation describes the container market as “balanced to tightening”. Its information present common container-shipping gas prices reaching $666 in August, up 3% month on month, whereas schedule reliability stood at solely 46% in July. Common port ready instances additionally elevated.[4]
The numbers exhibit why companies needs to be cautious about utilizing one international index, or one motion in gas costs, as an evidence for each change of their logistics invoice.
Totally different routes can expertise considerably totally different pressures on the identical time.
Transport gas is dealing with strain of its personal
The vitality shock can also be reaching ocean freight instantly.
Gasoline oil utilized by ships has tightened as geopolitical disruption impacts refinery operations and refiners prioritise higher-value merchandise comparable to diesel and gasoline. Reuters reported in early September that shares at main bunkering hubs together with Singapore, Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp and Fujairah had been round 30% beneath seasonal norms.[5]
Very-low-sulphur gas oil costs in Singapore had additionally risen sharply because the starting of the Iran battle, including one other potential supply of strain to worldwide delivery prices.[5]
This issues to African importers and exporters even when their cargo doesn’t transfer instantly by way of the Center East.
World delivery operates as an interconnected system. Larger bunker prices, lowered refinery output, constrained vessel availability, congestion or route modifications in a single a part of the community can in the end have an effect on freight availability and pricing elsewhere.
For companies, due to this fact, the worth of gas is just essentially the most seen a part of a wider supply-chain problem.
The transparency query
The troublesome concern arises when companies obtain increased transport and logistics expenses.
Prospects usually perceive that geopolitical shocks, gas will increase and disruptions to worldwide freight can elevate prices. However that doesn’t imply each improve ought to merely be accepted with out scrutiny.
Du Toit believes transparency has develop into one of the essential components of the connection between a logistics enterprise and its prospects.
“Prospects perceive that markets are unstable, they learn the identical headlines as everybody else. What they’re on the lookout for is honesty. If prices want to extend, clarify why. Present what you’re doing to minimise the influence. Companies don’t anticipate each problem to vanish in a single day, however they do anticipate transparency, accountability and a real dedication to discovering options. That’s how long-term partnerships are constructed.”
That requires greater than passing increased prices down the availability chain.
Companies can look at whether or not shipments could be consolidated, whether or not supply schedules could be adjusted, whether or not routes could be optimised and whether or not a distinct mixture of street, sea and air freight may scale back publicity.
The purpose isn’t that each value improve could be averted. Relatively, prospects ought to have the ability to perceive what has modified, why it has modified and what their logistics supplier has completed to mitigate the influence.
Effectivity turns into extra priceless in unstable markets
Route optimisation, cargo consolidation and improved planning are typically handled primarily as operational-efficiency tasks. During times of excessive gas costs and freight-market volatility, they develop into extra instantly linked to margin safety.
Higher forecasting can scale back costly emergency shipments. Consolidation can enhance load utilisation. Higher cargo visibility can enable corporations to determine disruptions earlier and contemplate different routes earlier than a delay turns into considerably costlier.
Know-how may give logistics groups extra info with which to check transport choices, monitor shipments and determine inefficiencies that had been beforehand troublesome to see.
However expertise doesn’t remove geopolitical or commodity-price threat.
A enterprise can’t optimise its approach out of a significant disruption to international oil provide. What it may possibly do is scale back avoidable prices round that disruption and enhance its means to react when circumstances change.
For companies working on skinny margins or with excessive logistics depth, that distinction could be vital.
What occurs when gas costs fall?
The present surroundings additionally raises one other essential query: if gas costs finally decline, ought to logistics expenses decline with them?
Du Toit believes companies have a respectable purpose to reopen the dialogue when circumstances enhance.
“Will pricing come down when gas costs do? It ought to definitely immediate a dialog. Pricing is influenced by many elements past gas alone, however companies needs to be reviewing their value constructions simply as rigorously when markets enhance as they do once they deteriorate. Transparency has to work each methods.”
The essential qualification is that freight prices don’t essentially transfer in good alignment with crude oil.
A fall in Brent doesn’t routinely reverse port congestion, insurance coverage premiums, vessel shortages, foreign money actions or different will increase which have accrued elsewhere within the provide chain.
Equally, nevertheless, a gas surcharge launched as a result of diesel costs elevated sharply ought to stay linked to the underlying value it was designed to get well.
For procurement and finance groups, this makes it more and more essential to grasp how logistics costs are constructed fairly than concentrating solely on the entire bill.
Companies can ask which expenses are instantly linked to gas, which replicate worldwide freight markets, how regularly surcharges are reviewed and which benchmarks are getting used.
South African companies face a number of layers of publicity
For South African corporations, worldwide oil volatility is amplified by the nation’s dependence on internationally priced crude oil and petroleum merchandise, delivery prices and actions within the rand-dollar alternate fee.
The September gas adjustment illustrates how a number of variables can work together. Whereas the common Brent worth rose through the evaluate interval, the rand strengthened from a mean R16.46 to R16.26 in opposition to the greenback, partially offsetting the influence. On the identical time, increased worldwide petroleum-product costs and modifications to home fuel-price elements added strain.[1]
This is the reason supply-chain planning can’t depend on the idea of steady vitality prices.
Companies uncovered to street freight, imported inputs or worldwide delivery more and more want to think about eventualities involving oil costs, alternate charges, freight capability, route availability and supply instances.
From worth negotiation to resilience
The fuel-price debate in the end raises a broader strategic concern.
A logistics relationship shouldn’t be evaluated solely when freight costs are rising. The identical questions on effectivity, transparency and worth ought to proceed when market circumstances enhance.
Companies ought to know the place their supply-chain prices originate, which elements are variable and the way rapidly suppliers reply when these variables change.
Essentially the most resilient provide chains won’t essentially be those who all the time safe the bottom quoted freight fee.
They are going to be those who present companies with sufficient visibility to grasp threat, sufficient flexibility to reply when circumstances change and sufficient transparency to tell apart real exterior value strain from avoidable inefficiency.
Gasoline costs will rise and fall. Freight markets will tighten and loosen. Geopolitical disruption will change form.
The problem for companies is due to this fact not merely to outlive the most recent worth shock. It’s to construct provide chains that stay comprehensible, adaptable and accountable when the following one arrives.
Sources and Data
[1] South Africa Division of Mineral and Petroleum Assets — Gasoline Worth Changes Efficient 2 September 2026
The division reported a R1.29/litre improve for petrol, will increase of R2.939–R3.149/litre for diesel, and a rise within the common Brent crude worth from $82.37 to $87.85 through the evaluate interval.
Division of Mineral and Petroleum Assets: September 2026 gas worth adjustment
[2] Reuters — Brent crude rises above $100 as Center East battle intensifies, 9 September 2026
Brent moved above $100 a barrel amid renewed considerations over Center Jap oil provides and disruption across the Strait of Hormuz.
Reuters: Brent crude rises above $100 a barrel
[3] Drewry — World Container Index, 3 September 2026
Drewry’s international benchmark remained at $4,465 per 40-foot container, whereas particular person commerce lanes continued to maneuver in numerous instructions.
Drewry World Container Index
[4] Drewry — Container Transport Market Alerts, September 2026
Drewry assessed the market as balanced to tightening. Common August gas prices reached $666, up 3% month on month, whereas schedule reliability was 46% in July.
Drewry Container Transport Market Alerts
[5] Reuters — Ship gas scarcity looms as refiners strained by battle, 7 September 2026
Reuters reported tightening international fuel-oil provide and shares at main bunkering hubs round 30% beneath seasonal norms.
Reuters: Ship gas scarcity looms as refiners favour different merchandise
About Craig du Toit
Craig du Toit is Managing Director of RSA World Forwarding South Africa.
