Persistent disruption has become a permanent feature of the global supply chain, forcing logistics providers and shippers to continually adapt, according to the 2026 State of Logistics Report. 

“Rising costs driven by energy volatility, inflation, and geopolitical instability are placing pressure on margins and forcing leaders to rethink traditional operating models,” said Korhan Acar, a partner with global consulting firm Kearney and lead author of the report. “At the same time, we’ve reached a genuine turning point in the autonomous era. AI, robotics, and autonomous trucking are moving rapidly from pilots to scaled deployment.”

The State of Logistics Report is created annually for the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and was released on June 16 during a press conference at the Empire State Building in New York.

This year’s report finds that U.S. business logistics costs were $2.4 trillion in 2026, or 7.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP). In 2025, U.S. business logistics costs were $2.6 trillion, or 8.7% of GDP. 

A changing trucking market

CSCMP’s report said the U.S. trucking market is showing signs of changing momentum, as carrier exits and higher diesel prices are tightening supply. 

Kearney estimates that 89,000 carriers have exited since 2022, materially reducing capacity and putting carriers in a stronger position than a year ago. That has led to improved pricing and business confidence, even as overall freight demand remains mixed.

The market is recovering “less because shippers are flooding the network with new freight, and more because excess capacity has finally been removed after a long and punishing downturn,” the report said.

English-language proficiency enforcement and restrictions on non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses have made capacity less evenly distributed and less reliable. Capacity, pricing, and service reliability vary by lane, region, customer mix, and equipment type more now than in the past. 

“Some corridors clear smoothly, while others tighten abruptly or command a premium despite unremarkable national demand,” according to the report. 

To reduce volatility or improve the cost-to-service equation, shippers are broadening their options beyond truckload to include partial truckload, intermodal, and private fleet services. 

More shippers are actively reviewing their delivery networks to consolidate loads, reduce empty miles, and tighten routing-guide compliance. They are also using analytics or artificial intelligence to test lane-level scenarios before cost or service issues show up in the network.

AI crosses from promise into proof

The emergence of AI throughout the supply chain was a central theme of this year’s report. “Artificial intelligence in logistics has crossed from promise into proof the technology is now producing measurable value,” the report said. 

A number of large-scale AI implementations that are delivering productivity gains and cost reductions have been deployed in warehouse robotics, automated quoting, predictive maintenance, and real-time demand sensing. Retailers, parcel carriers, and large 3PLs are at the forefront, as their businesses generate high-volume, repeatable workflows.

For example, C.H. Robinson’s proprietary generative AI tools that read inbound shipper emails have boosted productivity and help the company book about 3,000 pickup and delivery appointments per day across more than 26,000 locations in under 60 seconds.

Similarly, Penske Logistics has deployed an agentic AI platform that contacts carrier dispatchers to validate shipment status when visibility data is unavailable. The company is expecting 30% to 40% productivity gains while supporting visibility across approximately 600,000 loads.

And at FedEx, a predictive maintenance platform called MOBIUS combines sensor data from its sortation systems with proprietary AI models to anticipate equipment failures. It has prevented 17,000 hours of potential downtime, resulting in an estimated $10 million in annual savings.