US Logistics Growth Highest Since 2022 on Soaring Prices

The Logistics Manager’s Index in the US increased to 65.7 in March 2026, the highest since May 2022, from 61.5 in February, driven by continued expansion in the freight market. Transportation Prices skyrocketed (+12.7 to 89.4, a new high level since March of 2022), at least partially attributable to the start of the Iran conflict that has limited available oil supplies. This stands in contrast with the continued contraction of Transportation Capacity (-1.8 to 39.2), at least partially due to the reduction of fleet capacity of the last few years. The 50.2-point gap between these two metrics is the highest positive inversion since November 2021. Meanwhile, Inventory Levels expanded slightly faster (+1.0 to 54.8) and Inventory Costs also moved higher (+8.4 to 76.2, the highest since August 2025). Also, Warehousing Capacity contracted (-4 to 46) and Warehousing Utilization expansion slowed (-0.6 to 59.8) while Warehousing Prices increased (+4.8 to 67.4).

The Logistics Manager’s Index in the US increased to 61.5 in February 2026, the highest in a year, from 59.6 in January. The reading also breaks an eleven-month streak of readings below the all-time overall average of 61.3. This slightly above average yet steady rate of growth is consistent across supply chains, with no significant differences between Upstream and Downstream (56.2 and 59.2), early and late (55.2 and 58.1) or large and small (58.1 and 54.7) respondents. Inventory levels expanded at roughly the same pace as the previous period (53.8 vs 53.9), while inventory costs moderated (67.8 vs 71.3). Warehousing capacity remained unchanged (50 vs 50), but warehousing utilization rose (60.3 vs 54.4), and warehousing prices slowed (62.6 vs 64.8). Meanwhile, transportation utilization increased at a faster rate (61.9 vs 58.1), but transportation capacity declined further (41 vs 47.1), contributing to higher transportation prices (76.7 vs 71.4).

The Logistics Manager’s Index in the US rose to 59.6 in January 2026, the highest in seven months, from 54.2 in December. The reading pointed to a faster rate of expansion in the logistics sector largely due to a shift back towards milder restocking to start the year. Inventory levels rebounded from contraction (+18.8 to 53.9) although the increase is relatively mild compared to what we often see in January when firms are engaged in restocking. This suggests that respondents kept with their future predictions from last year and running inventories relatively lean to start the year. This is possibly reflective of the continued high costs, with inventory costs increasing (+8.4 to 71.3). Meanwhile, warehousing capacity dropped (-11.2 to 50) and warehousing utilization bounced back from contraction (+11.6 to 54.4). Transportation is still tight (+10.9 to 47.1) which led to another increase in transportation prices (+4.8 to 71.4), the most since April 2022.