Transportation prices climbed to 92.7 on the Logistics Managers' Index in September, up 2.7 percentage points from August, as truck capacity tightened for the tenth consecutive month and aggregate logistics costs hit their highest level in more than three years.

The pricing index has now printed at 90 or above in five of the past six months. The LMI is a diffusion index: readings above 50 signal expansion, readings below 50 signal contraction. Record diesel prices and heightened regulatory enforcement continue to push truckload capacity out of the market, keeping the pricing gauge near all-time highs.

Transportation capacity posted 34.4 in September, down 5.6 points sequentially — a rate the report called "a steep rate of contraction." Transportation utilization rose to 66.1, though 4.5 points slower than in August.

What do logistics managers expect next?

Survey respondents see no relief over the next 12 months. Future readings came in at 37.9 for capacity, 70.8 for utilization and 86.1 for pricing — a combination that points to a market that stays tight and inflationary well into next year.

The overall LMI rose 3.6 points to 70.2, the second-highest level in four and a half years. Only June's 71.1 reading was higher over that period.

Why are warehouses suddenly tight?

Inventory levels jumped 6.1 points to 58.9, and that build-up spilled into warehousing. Warehouse capacity fell 14.2 points to 39.3, its fastest rate of contraction since March 2022, shortly after Russia's initial invasion of Ukraine. Upstream facilities — where most of the inventory sits — were nearly 10 points tighter still.

Warehousing utilization rose 4.7 points to 64.3, while warehouse prices expanded "robustly" at 73.5, down 1.5 points from August. Inventory costs climbed 1.3 points to 79.9.

The report noted that retail inventories remain stuck at the wholesale level of the supply chain. Upstream respondents — wholesalers and manufacturers — reported inventory levels of 61.4, versus 53.8 for downstream respondents, mostly retailers.

"This dynamic likely represents a combination of goods being rushed over late due to late-breaking confidence in Q4 consumer spending along with the neo-seasonal trend to only move goods down to retailers in mid-October," the report said.

On the inventory build itself, it added: "This increase likely reflects two things: first, inventories were not overbuilt in summer 2026 to avoid tariffs; second, U.S. consumers have remained strong in the face of inflationary pressures and retailers are building stocks accordingly."

The report also flagged that companies have not "finished building up inventories" ahead of the holidays — meaning more freight is still to move.

How expensive is the total supply chain bill?

The aggregate cost measure — combining inventory, warehousing and transportation — reached 246.1 in September, up 2.5 points from August. That is the strongest reading since April 2022.

"This is the highest reading for this aggregate metric since April of 2022, when supply-driven inflation was rampant in the wake of both the cessation of COVID-era demand and the invasion of Ukraine," the report said. "These high costs are putting significant pressure on supply chains and consumers alike."

Why the LMI matters

The Logistics Managers' Index is a monthly sentiment survey of supply chain executives, produced by Arizona State University, Colorado State University, Florida Atlantic University, Rutgers University and the University of Nevada, Reno, in partnership with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

The September report describes an operating environment in which shippers face shrinking truck and warehouse capacity while every major cost component inflates. With respondents pricing in another year of tight capacity — and holiday inventory still moving downstream into mid-October — cost pressure looks set to persist through the fourth quarter.