US logistics growth slows in December as LMI hits 2024 low

The LMI score is a combination of eight unique components that make up the logistics industry: inventory levels and costs, warehousing capacity, utilisation and prices, and transportation capacity, utilisation and prices.

The contraction in the first half of December was not indicative of slowness in the logistics industry. Rather, it was likely a product of the rapid holiday rundown of extreme levels of inventory. Evidence of this lies in the expansion of transportation metrics, which suggests that firms were pushing inventories ahead as quickly as possible towards consumers.

The majority of the downward pressure came from inventory and warehousing markets. This was led by a downward shift (minus 17.4) into extreme contraction at 35.1 for inventory levels. This led to inventory cost expansion slowing by 8.1 points to 62.9.

At the same time, warehousing capacity increased by 6.4 points to 61.2 and warehousing utilisation hit a second-consecutive all-time low, decreasing by 4.7 points to 42.9.

All of these downward movements are due to firms continuing to move inventories downstream towards consumers, providing a final wave of relief to the firms that had been holding onto unprecedented levels of inventory throughout 2025, an official release said.

This downstream push catalysed transportation metrics, with transportation capacity (minus 13.1 points) moving back to contraction at 36.9 in a move that carriers have been waiting on for nearly three years.

The contraction in available capacity pushed transportation prices up by 1.8 points to 66.7, which is the highest reading for this metric since January and the initial inventory pull-forward that started the year.

Researchers at Arizona State University, Colorado State University, Florida Atlantic University, Rutgers University, and the University of Nevada, Reno, and in conjunction with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) issued the LMI report.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)