I've been playing with friends for a fair while now. They don't tend to read the forums / research the game outside of play.
I noticed that they are making a lot of claim choices which result in shipping goods right across medium maps, their HQ is in one corner, the tall stack in the opposite.
So far as I can tell there's nothing obvious when they place a building to indicate that there's a transport cost with distance.
Perhaps an estimated fuel consumption measurement could be displayed when players are hovering with something ready to build, doesn't have to give them the exact cost, just an indication that maybe a closer, smaller pile is better than that 3 stack over the other side of the map.