Monday's cane talks in Delhi ended with the promise of a committee and no price1, so farmers in Karnataka and Maharashtra start blocking highways today, Pune–Bengaluru among them. Kolkata's Puja curbs start today too, which is the usual Puja strain. And at the Bengal border, trucks of petroleum coke from Assam have now waited nearly four weeks.
Green the sale season as usual, which can still be busy
Amber something beyond the season is slowing freight
Red something is stopping freight across a state or a route
North
Amber
Monday was Delhi's wettest October day since 2022, with waterlogging at Sainik Farm and Mahipalpur and Ansari Road shut both ways3, Gurugram's NH-48 chowks jammed by waterlogging4, and the Supreme Court march stopping central Delhi5. More showers are due for three days3, so Delhi and Gurugram deliveries run late while Monday's misses catch up.
West
Amber
Farmers say they'll block highways at Karad, Satara, Indapur, Parbhani and Nanded, and are already stopping cane trucks in Sangli and Satara6. Pune–Kolhapur and Pune–Solapur trucks could be held for hours wherever they sit.
South
Amber
Karnataka's cane farmers block national highways in every district from 11 am today7. Kognoli and Hattargi on Pune–Bengaluru are on the list, so trucks crossing north Karnataka could be held for hours.
East
Green
Kolkata's Puja curbs start today: goods vehicles in set hours, port trucks noon to 4 pm, till the 19th8. That's the usual Puja strain, so deliveries into Kolkata run in those windows, no slower than the season.
Northeast
Amber
About 300 trucks of Assam petroleum coke for Visakhapatnam, Haldia, Durgapur, Barauni and Paradip have been held at the Bengal border since 17th September9; Sanmarg counts 100-plus, ₹30 crore of goods10. Those plants are four weeks short of coke.
Central
Green
Nothing exceptional to report, beyond seasonal impact.
Network Insights
1Navi Mumbai gets Lufthansa, and Friday's bill
Air cargo into and out of Mumbai
Amber · High cost of delay · Medium confidence
Lufthansa Cargo moved its Mumbai freighters to Navi Mumbai yesterday, joining Cathay Cargo, Silk Way West and Hong Kong Air Cargo there11. The airport says it has handled 11,853 tonnes since January, 55% of it international, and 24 international freighters since August12. So has the cargo shed caught up? The last report I found is from the 7th: imports sitting on dollies, Challenge Group's freighters suspended, and extra demurrage waived until 15th October13. Nobody has reported since whether the dollies cleared, so I am not entirely sure of the impact on import.
From Friday, an import still waiting at Navi Mumbai pays demurrage again. The exposure sits with pharma, electronics and parts importers whose Mumbai air shipments land this fortnight with no slack for a wait of days.
2Central Railway's busiest month in a decade
Rail freight, Central Railway and the freight corridors
High confidence
Central Railway loaded 6.59 million tonnes in September, its biggest month in ten years and 25% more than last September14. On the dedicated freight corridors, 13,833 trains ran in September, and on 6th October a record 946 trains crossed between the corridors and the main network in one day, beating 929 four days earlier15. Why does a freight corridor matter in Diwali month? Because its trains don't give way to passenger trains, so they keep to a schedule the main lines can't promise15. So is the freight corridor like the one empty lane on a jammed highway? Except a record means the lane is filling up, not staying empty.
For full loads between Punjab, Delhi and Bihar, or Delhi and JNPA, a train on the corridor holds its transit time when the highways don't. The catch: the records say others are booking it too, so the slot is the thing to secure, not the rate.
3Shipping the crude now costs a quarter of the crude
Crude imports, and the diesel bill
Medium confidence
A very large crude carrier from the Gulf to Asia now charges about $1.3 million a day, 43 times January's rate, and freight has gone from about 3% of the crude's value to about 27%, going by Poten & Partners' figures16. Tanker shares hit records on Monday, with Brent near $10717. India's refiners are already switching: Iraqi crude to India more than doubled in September to 4.41 million tonnes, while Russian crude fell 32%18. So what does a tanker rate in the Gulf have to do with a truck in Nagpur? Diesel, of course. A refiner paying for the voyage carries it on the crude bill16. The state pumps haven't moved diesel; Nayara and Jio-bp have added ₹3 a litre19.
I don't know how long the state retailers keep diesel where it is. Every month they do, the gap with the crude bill grows, and when it closes, every truck rate gets dearer at once; the contract with no diesel clause is the one that eats it.
The lanes I'm watching
NH-48 Pune–BengaluruAmber
Kognoli, Hattargi, Karad, Satara
Farmers plan to block it at Kognoli toll plaza indefinitely from today, and at Hattargi, Karad and Satara6. Kognoli saw about 2,300 heavy trucks a day in August20. Belagavi police detour trucks by Nipani, Chikodi and Gokak21, costing hours.
NH-27 at SrirampurAmber
The Northeast's road out
Bengal's GST officers still hold them, though the Finance Minister said on the 8th a transit state can't; demurrage has reached ₹1 crore9. A release promised on the 9th hasn't come10.
NH-157 Kalinga ghatAmber
Ganjam to Kandhamal, Odisha
Shut nearly 19 days by a landslide, light vehicles only 10–15 days after repairs; about 42 days last year22. Berhampur–Phulbani trucks detour.
NH-10 Siliguri–GangtokAmber
Sikkim's one trunk road
Shut 9 pm–6 am at Sevoke–Rangpo till Thursday and 26th October–5th November23; late loads wait at Siliguri for morning.
Measured this morning
City roads against usual, daily, 6–12 Oct24amber = 10+ over
Monday was busier than Sunday everywhere but Kochi: Kolkata ran 22 points over usual across the day, the most of the ten cities, and Delhi 13 over, the day of the rain and the march. Kolkata's first curb morning runs a little busier than a weekday: 11 over at 8 am, where weekdays this month ran 5 to 8 and Mahalaya, the last curb day, ran 15, with 15 km of jams, the most at that hour this month. Delhi is 9 over at 8 am, lighter than Monday's 15. Last year's first curb day was 25th September, but TomTom publishes no daily figures for 2025, so there's no like-for-like comparison.
Kolkata+22
Delhi+13
Chennai+9
Hyderabad+8
Mumbai+8
Pune+6
Ahmedabad+5
Bengaluru+5
Jaipur+3
Kochi+1
Sources
Built from public sources only. The ratings are my judgement on the likelihood of on-time delivery or cost-impact, not measured service levels or actual cost estimates. Confidence is High when the facts are dated and primary or measured, Medium when they rest on a proxy or a forecast. If I am wrong, we'll find out in the subsequent weeks. Map boundaries: DataMeet, CC BY 4.0.