Supply chain activity in the U.S. picked up for the first time since March, buoyed by elevated inventories even as transportation costs slid for a sixth straight month.

The number of containerships headed for the California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — a traffic jam that once symbolized American consumer vigor during the pandemic — declined to the lowest level since the bottleneck started to build two years ago.

The latest reading of Flexport’s Post-COVID Indicator released Aug. 16 shows it falling for a third straight month.

The world’s biggest container lines are on course to post profits in 2022 that will top last year’s record by 73%, according to a new forecast, buoyed by logistics and labor strains that are squeezing capacity amid sustained U.S. demand for imports.

Rock guitarist Jack White, who extended his “Supply Chain Issues Tour” into October, might want to name his band’s next road trip after a different villain. That’s because supply strains, while still afflicting many consumers and businesses, are becoming more mundane.

An indicator of U.S. supply chain pressure fell to the lowest level in two years, as a sharp drop in transportation costs underscores the slowdown in the nation’s economy heading into the second half of the year.

The Logistics Managers Index dropped to 67.1 in May, the second straight decline from a record of 76.2 reached in March.

Some supply strains in the U.S. are easing, two years after a jump in demand started emptying shelves, snarling shipping and sowing the seeds of soaring inflation.

A gauge of logistics stress in the U.S. economy eased in April as freight transportation cooled, a sign that the broader economy is downshifting to a speed that remains expansionary.

The U.S. economy is strong enough to avoid a sharp downturn, even as concerns are growing about how long consumers can sustain healthy spending levels amid rising inflation, the head of transportation at Deutsche Post AG’s DHL supply chain division said.