America’s truck drivers are feeling the pressure from skyrocketing diesel prices.

The WSJ’s Jared Mitovich and Jeanne Whalen report that fuel prices have risen sharply since the start of the Middle East conflict. Diesel prices hit $5.285 a gallon on Monday, up about 42% from a month earlier, according to AAA.

The surging prices are cutting into the margins of small truckers nationwide and are expected to eventually get passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices.

One long-haul trucker based in Tampa, Fla., said he recently spent around $1,800 on diesel during a week on the road, about 40% more than he typically paid before the Iran war began. He is looking for lighter loads and trying to avoid hilly routes that guzzle fuel.

Another trucker in Michigan said he’s focused on taking loads that pay a surcharge to cover some of the extra cost.

Amazon is taking the road less traveled with its latest expansion. The e-commerce giant is building delivery hubs in dozens of thinly populated regions across the U.S. so it can get packages to local residents in around two days.

That delivery speed may seem like a snail’s pace compared to Amazon’s promises in urban and suburban areas, where it offers next-day, same-day and, in some places, one-hour deliveries. But the WSJ’s Sean McLain reports that residents of some far-flung Montana hamlets were used to waiting up to a week for their orders.

Delivering packages to far-flung locations means drivers contend with backcountry challenges such as bighorn sheep on the road, dangerously high winds in mountain passes and roads that are impassable during parts of the year. In some places, Amazon is testing off-road capable delivery vehicles in addition to its fleet of box trucks and vans.

U.S. construction spending slowed in January. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Goldman Sachs raised its probability of a U.S. recession in the next 12 months to 30%. (WSJ)

Toyota Motor will invest $1 billion in its Kentucky and Indiana manufacturing operations. (WSJ)

TotalEnergies said it would no longer develop offshore wind-power projects in the U.S. (WSJ)

Nvidia and Emerald AI plan to work with power producers to develop a new class of AI factories designed to connect to energy grids faster. (WSJ)

Germany’s Delivery Hero agreed to sell its delivery-platform business in Taiwan to Singapore’s Grab Holdings. (WSJ)

United Natural Foods Inc. is closing a warehouse in Wisconsin and shifting operations to its distribution center in Joliet, Ill. (Progressive Grocer)

An oil tanker that seemed to have been scrapped signaled it transited the Strait of Hormuz, the second so-called zombie ship crossing the waterway in a matter of days. (Bloomberg)

A Chinese-owned feeder containership paid Iran for passage through the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend. (Lloyd’s List)

DoorDash is offering extra compensation to U.S. and Canadian drivers to help offset rising gas prices. (Associated Press)

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at mark.long@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long, Liz Young and Paul Berger.