U.S. Companies Stop Waiting for Supply Chains to Return to Normal

A new supply-chain mindset

U.S. companies are no longer waiting for supply chains to snap back to the way they worked before the pandemic. Instead, they are acting as if volatility is a permanent part of the business environment and are redesigning logistics networks to be more flexible, faster to adapt and less dependent on any single route or carrier.

That shift was the central message of a June 16 Wall Street Journal report tied to a logistics panel and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals' annual State of Logistics Report. The report and panel point to a market where companies are trying to absorb shocks rather than assume conditions will normalize on their own.

Ford Motor transportation executive Doug Cantriel put it bluntly: “Normalcy is not coming back.” He said future supply-chain success will depend more on agility and speed of decision-making than on scale or buying power.

What the report says

The CSCMP report says U.S. businesses spent $2.4 trillion in 2025 on transportation, inventory-carrying costs and other shipping-related expenses. It also says logistics costs fell to 7.8% of GDP from 8.3% in 2024, helped by a 36% drop in ocean shipping costs.

That improvement, however, is not carrying cleanly into 2026. The article says logistics costs are rising again, with trucking rates climbing after a four-year slump and short-term ocean container rates from China, Japan and South Korea to the U.S. West Coast up nearly 48% on June 12 versus a month earlier, according to Xeneta.

Why companies are changing course

The response from shippers is less about chasing a single efficient model and more about building optionality. Companies are using more diversified port access, mixing contract and spot shipping rates and asking logistics providers to help model “what-if” scenarios.

That kind of planning matters when freight costs can move quickly and trade policy is uncertain. The research packet says tariff uncertainty and the war in Iran are adding to the pressure companies face as they decide how much inventory to hold, which routes to use and how much redundancy to build into their networks.

The broader operational shift is also visible in how companies talk about performance. Instead of treating resilience as a backup plan, executives are folding it into core logistics strategy alongside cost control and service reliability.

Broader pressures ahead

The article also points to new infrastructure demands that could make supply-chain planning more complicated. AI-related data center buildout and warehouse automation may add pressure to the electric grid and to the supply chains that support new facilities and equipment.

That means the issue is not only whether freight prices rise or fall in the near term. It is also whether the companies that depend on large logistics networks can keep adapting as new sources of demand and strain enter the system.

What to watch next

The next major checkpoint is the full release of the CSCMP State of Logistics Report and any formal follow-up from CSCMP or the report authors. The market will also be watching whether trucking and container rates keep climbing through late June and July.

Investors and logistics operators will be looking for evidence in earnings updates and investor calls from major shippers and logistics firms. If companies begin quantifying higher freight, inventory or service costs, that will show how quickly the new supply-chain reality is reaching the bottom line.