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Supply Chain by the Numbers

March 12, 2026

Supply Chain by the Numbers for March 12, 2026

Air Taxies get Boost. Goldman Sachs Bullish on US Economy. Return of the Mega Warehouse. Warehouse Automation Sees Modest Growth in 2025


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5
That is the number of sites approved for air taxi development this week by the Federal Aviation Administration. The program could see air taxis operating this year in New York City, Florida, Texas, North Carolina and locations across the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountains and parts of Oklahoma. The projects come under the FAA’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program to spur the deployment of advanced air mobility vehicles into the US airspace. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a video that eVTOLs “are going to make the airspace far more interesting and far more fun, and we have to be prepared for that.” The next step is for the projects to finalize operational details and agreements, with flights beginning within the following 90 days.

146

That is how many leases across the US were signed for warehouse space of over 500,000 square feet last year, up more than 31% from the previous year to the highest level since 2022, according to a new report from real-estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. Forty-two of those agreements were signed in the fourth quarter, the most activity in a quarter since the third quarter of 2022, according to Cushman. Those numbers indicate demand is bouncing back for the biggest warehouses after several years of slow leasing activity for the so-called mega-warehouses. The vacancy rate for warehouses over 500,000 square feet climbed to nearly 11% in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared with a pandemic-era low of 3.3% in the second quarter of 2022, according to Cushman. But availability for the largest buildings fell to 9.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025, Cushman said.



2.9%
That was the forecast for real global GDP growth for 2026 from Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs this week. That forecast was slightly higher than the 2.7% growth that is the consensus among US economists. For the US specifically the banker said this: “Our economists are most optimistic (relative to consensus) on the US economy. They forecast that real GDP will expand 2.8% in 2026, versus the consensus estimate of 2.2%.” Goldman Sachs added that the key driver is that the drag from tariff increases should give way to a boost from business and personal tax cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Real wage gains and rising wealth should also help sustain consumer spending growth, says David Mericle, chief US economist. Goldman Sachs Research forecasts the euro area economy to grow just 1.3% this year—the same pace as last year and roughly in line with consensus estimates.



7%
That was the rise in global orders for warehouse automation firms in 2025, according to new data from research firm Interact Analysis, which follows the warehouse automation market closely. The increase was fueled in part by an inflation of project values due to rising steel and labor costs, causing order intakes to rise even without a boost in underlying demand, the report said. In addition, slow momentum within the overall market was offset by large-scale facility investments from retail giants such as Amazon, Walmart, and Tesco. “Looking further ahead, growth is expected to slow slightly, particularly in North America, as steel prices normalize and major CapEx cycles reach maturity. “Factors such as easing input costs and political uncertainty in the US ahead of the 2028 election are likely to weigh on longer-term growth in the warehouse automation market,” Rowan Stott, Senior Analyst at Interact Analysis, said in a release.

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