The transportation intermediary or third party logistics (3PL) industry strives to arrange the most efficient and economical movement of goods. It serves tens of thousands of shippers and carriers, bringing together the transportation needs of the cargo interests with the corresponding capacity and special equipment offered by rail, motor, air, and ocean carriers. It plays a key role in cross border transportation by land, sea, and air.
Traditionally, transportation intermediaries have been primarily non-asset based companies whose expertise is providing mode- and carrier-neutral transportation arrangements for shippers with the underlying asset owning and operating carriers. They get to know the details of a shipper’s business, then tailor a package of transportation services, sometimes by various modes of transportation to meet those needs. Transportation intermediaries bring a targeted expertise to meet the shipper’s transportation needs. Transportation intermediaries invest in sophisticated software that helps maximize logistics efficiency. Overview provided by
TIAnet.org
