Supply Chain & Logistics News, Trends, and Insights

Getting office furniture from an overseas manufacturer to dealers across the United States takes coordination at every step. For i5 Industries, that means connecting international shipping, port drayage and less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation through a logistics partner that understands its business.

The fourth quarter begins with a mix of encouraging economic signals and continued uncertainty. Demand is strengthening in several areas, but rising fuel costs, tighter capacity, regulatory changes and global transportation disruptions are creating new challenges for shippers.

Q3 2026 marks a turning point.  After one of the longest freight downturns in modern trucking history, soft capacity and shipper-favorable pricing dating back to 2022, the market is tightening across nearly every mode.

On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC that immediately changed the freight brokerage industry. For brokers who have been cutting corners on carrier vetting, the ruling is a wake-up call. For Averitt, it is confirmation of what we have been doing all along.

Intermodal transportation tends to get a reputation it doesn't quite deserve. Shippers hear "rail" and think slow, complicated, or risky for their freight. In practice, the reality is often the opposite. For the right lanes and freight types, intermodal can deliver meaningful cost savings while keeping transit times competitive with over-the-road service.

Freight shipping to Puerto Rico sounds straightforward until it isn't.

Q2 2026 arrives with more complexity than clarity. The Middle East conflict has introduced a new layer of economic uncertainty that is rippling across every mode of transportation, driving fuel costs higher, disrupting international trade lanes, and adding pressure to supply chains that were just beginning to find their footing.

Freight pricing has always been complicated — but the tools shippers use to navigate it are changing fast. Transportation management systems (TMS) that once existed to track a shipment from point A to point B have evolved into full decision-making platforms. And AI is accelerating that shift in ways that are reshaping how both shippers and carriers operate.

The AI data center buildout is the largest infrastructure investment cycle in modern history. U.S. spending on data center construction starts reached an estimated $77.7 billion in 2025 according to Equipment World – a 190% year-over-year increase – and Moody's projects $3 trillion in global spending over the next five years to keep pace with AI capacity demand. With more than 2,788 data centers currently announced or under construction across the U.S., the pressure on every link in the supply chain – including logistics – has never been greater.