Logistics Managers Index transportation prices surge 5.6 points in April, hitting second-highest level ever
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 Marchs 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. Aggregate logistics costs reached approximately 242, the highest since April 2022. The Strait of Hormuz factor The proximate cause of this tightening appears to be fuel costs. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil transit, has driven energy prices higher. Transportation prices have been climbing steadily since September 2025, but Aprils jump









