Economic Insights White Paper December 2025
Executive Overview
We hope you find this month’s transportation update helpful as you close out the year. November’s data points to a steady but uneven freight environment. Imports cooled to 2.18M TEUs, down 5.4% month over month and 7.8% year over year, and Cass Shipments remained down 7.6% year over year even with a small monthly uptick. Manufacturing also stayed in contraction with an ISM PMI of 48.2, reinforcing that demand is stable but not accelerating.
At the same time, a few indicators hint at tightening in select lanes. Tender rejections edged up to 6.20%, and van and reefer rates showed firmer momentum while flatbed continued to ease. Fuel moved higher as well, with diesel up 3.9% month over month and 8.6% year over year, adding a bit of all in cost pressure even as overall capacity remains generally available. Consumer demand stayed resilient entering the holiday window, with retail sales essentially flat month over month and up 3.5% year over year.
As always, feel free to pass this along to others who keep an eye on the freight market. And if you know someone who could benefit from partnering with us, we’d be grateful for the introduction. Referrals are the highest compliment we can receive.
U.S. Container Imports Reported at 2,307,933 TEUs
Source | Descartes
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- Month-over-Month: Down 5.4%
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Year-over-Year: Down 7.8%
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Top Ports:
- Los Angeles: -9.6%
- Long Beach: -7.9%
- Houston: -10.0%
- Oakland: -11.5%
- Charleston: -7.0%
- Tacoma: -4.0%
- New York and Newark: -4.4%
- Norfolk: -1.2%
- Savannah: -0.4%
- New York, NY: +64.1%
Logistics Managers’ Index (LMI) Registers at 55.7
Source | the-lmi.com
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Month-over-Month: 55.7 (-1.7)
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Inventory Levels: 52.5 (+3.0)
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Inventory Costs: 70.8 (-2.4)
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Warehousing Capacity: 54.8 (+2.8)
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Warehousing Utilization: 47.5 (-9.0)
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Transportation Capacity: 50.0 (-4.5)
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Transportation Utilization: 51.5 (-5.8)
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Transportation Prices: 64.9 (+3.2)
U.S. Manufacturing PMI® Grows to 49.1
Source | ISM.com
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New Orders: 47.4 (-2.0)
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Production: 51.4 (+3.2)
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Employment: 44.0 (-2.0)
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Supplier Deliveries: 49.3 (-4.9)
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Inventories: 48.9 (+3.1)
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Customers’ Inventories: 44.7 (+0.8)
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Prices Index: 58.5 (+0.5)
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Backlog of Orders: 44.0 (-3.9)
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New Export Orders: 46.2 (+1.7)
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Imports: 48.9 (+3.5)
U.S. Truck Tonnage Index Rose 0.2% in November
Source | Trucking.org
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Month-over-Month: Fell 2.6%
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Year-over-Year: Rose 0.8%
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Year-to-Date: Slightly up at 0.2%
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Not Seasonally Adjusted Index: 119.1, up from 117.0 in July
Cass Freight Index® Trends in July 2025
Source | Cassinfo.com
Shipments: 1.004
- Month-over-Month: Up 0.7%
- Year-over-Year: Down 7.6%
Expenditures: 3.163
- Month-over-Month: Down 0.2%
- Year-over-Year: Down 1.2%