US freight is getting expensive fast. The April 2026 Logistics Managers’ Index registered Transportation Prices at 95.0, a 5.6-point jump from March and the second-highest reading in the index’s entire history. The only time prices ran hotter was during March and April of 2018.
The capacity crunch behind the price spike
Transportation Capacity cratered 10.9 points in April to 28.4, the second-lowest recording the LMI has ever produced. Any reading below 50 signals contraction, so 28.4 isn’t just contraction. It’s a market gasping for air.
The spread between Transportation Prices at 95.0 and Transportation Capacity at 28.4 is 66.6 points. That’s a record gap, the largest delta in the index’s history.
The headline LMI itself climbed to 69.9, up 4.2 points from March’s reading of 65.7. That represents the fastest pace of expansion since March 2022, when supply chain chaos from the pandemic era was still rattling through the system.
