Supply Chain & Logistics News, Trends, and Insights

If you have international shipments moving from Asia to the U.S., conditions in the Transpacific Eastbound (TPEB) market have changed significantly in recent weeks. Space is tight, rates are climbing, and the window to act is narrowing.

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.

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.

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.

As we move into 2026, the warehousing market is showing early signs of moderation—but not normalization. While select markets are beginning to soften, warehouse costs nationally remain elevated compared to pre-2020 levels, and pricing behavior continues to vary widely by geography.

As supply chains move into 2026, the conversation has shifted. Shippers are no longer reacting to constant disruption—but they aren’t operating with full confidence either. Instead, planning decisions are being made with greater discipline, tighter assumptions, and far less margin for error.

Artificial intelligence is now part of nearly every conversation in logistics. Pricing, planning, customer service, forecasting—AI shows up in all of it. Some of that progress is meaningful. Some of it is noise.

The start of 2026 doesn’t bring a clean reset for the supply chain—but it does bring more clarity than we’ve had in recent years. Across transportation, ports, and warehousing, conditions are being shaped less by sudden demand swings and more by structural changes: tighter capacity, regulatory enforcement, evolving trade patterns, and the lingering influence of trade policy and tariffs on sourcing and routing decisions. Together, these forces are reinforcing the need for flexibility when disruptions occur.

Throughout this year, the transportation industry has seen heightened federal enforcement focused on driver licensing, cabotage regulations, and English language proficiency requirements. These initiatives, including Operation Midway Blitz and related investigations, have resulted in thousands of drivers being taken off the road. Many experts predict tighter trucking capacity across the United States as a result.