Part 2: Dream Team! Your Guide to Full-Service 3PL Providers & the Transportation Industry

We’re kicking off our series on the TA Services Dream Team with an introduction to Chris Bahr, VP of Brokerage Operations at TA Services. Chris has been involved with the logistics industry for more than 15 years, holding roles at Coyote Logistics, Access America Transport, and Transfreight before joining the team at TA Services. And he has experience across multiple areas of the industry, including brokerage, pricing strategy, and business intelligence.

With all that experience, it only made sense that we would ask him to share his insights on full-service 3PL providers and the future of the transportation industry. Read on for what he had to say.

What is a full-service 3PL provider?

Properly defining a full-service 3PL provider can be tricky. Every 3PL is different—following various business models and offering a wide range of services. The simplest way to think about it is a partner that provides the outsourced management of activities related to procurement and fulfillment. At TA Services, those specific activities are freight brokerage, managed transportation, warehousing and fulfillment, and cross-border logistics.

Depending on your needs, a 3PL can provide various levels of involvement—whether you need support with just a few modes or services or you wish to fully outsource your logistics operations.

What are the benefits of working with a full-service 3PL provider?

Every shipper is unique and strives to reach different goals. But working with a full-service 3PL provider with knowledge and experience of the transportation industry can help shippers achieve almost any goal they have while mitigating supply chain disruptions. Here are some of the common benefits we offer our customers:

Cost and time savings

A common goal for shippers is reducing their transportation costs, and 3PLs can help with that in a number of ways. The first being buying power. 3PLs work with a variety of shippers and carriers, which means they are moving a higher volume of freight than your average shipper. This scale allows 3PLs to negotiate the best rates on behalf of their clients.

You can also reduce back-office expenses and time spent on areas like billing, IT, and claims processing by leveraging the resources provided by a 3PL. You will also get access to technology and expertise that will help identify inefficiencies in your logistics operations to optimize your strategy and budget—all without added overhead.

Consistent capacity

Sourcing and vetting carriers takes a lot of time and attention. And in today’s market, driver shortages and constrained capacity make that job even more challenging. When you choose to work with a 3PL, you tap into a network of qualified, reliable carriers. Your provider can help secure capacity based on your needs using their diverse, multimodal network.

Industry expertise

When you work for a 3PL, you see it all. We work with shippers and carriers across the country and spend every day creating solutions for any and every challenge the transportation industry throws our way. We take those experiences and turn them into lessons and best practices to share with our clients. A 3PL should be an extension of your team—not just a provider, but a true partner. You should be able to lean on their industry experience and trust them to help optimize your logistics operations and create a logistics strategy that will help propel your business forward.

Scalability

Your transportation needs likely fluctuate throughout the year with seasonal demand. A 3PL is best equipped to help you navigate those changing capacity needs and scale with you. And as your business grows into new regions where you don’t have boots on the ground, a 3PL can be there for support, with national coverage and industry relationships.

Escalation and risk management

No matter how much planning goes into any one shipment, there is always the potential for issues or delays. Whether a truck breaks down or severe weather interrupts a route, your 3PL will be a partner to help handle any escalations and offer a solution. Additionally, your 3PL can help ensure your loads are properly covered from risk of damage, loss, or theft—and help manage the claims process in the event something does go wrong.

What should you look for when choosing a full-service 3PL provider?

There are some essentials to evaluate when choosing a full-service 3PL provider. For instance, you need to ensure any potential partner offers the modes and services you need for the lanes you require. Evaluating their technology and how they approach data and reporting is also important. Think not just about the support you need today, but the support you may need in the future. You want to ensure that the provider you choose can grow with you.

But what really sets a 3PL apart from the crowd are the people. At TA Services, people come first—and we prioritize relationships above all else. Because when we empower our people to build meaningful relationships, we are better positioned to deliver extraordinary results for each of our clients.

What’s next in the transportation industry?

The pandemic and other recent events have forced the industry to adjust its strategies and best practices in order to succeed in a changing market. As things start to level out, the skills and flexibility everyone in the industry has adopted will continue to be important. We now truly understand the importance of agility.

But if there is one thing we’ve learned from all this change, it’s the importance of the human side of logistics. Yes, technology is important, and it has changed the way the industry works, introducing news areas of automation and efficiency. But there are some things technology can’t do. It takes a person with experience to adapt quickly when the industry requires it—like it has throughout the pandemic. In the future, technology will continue to play an important role in the transportation industry, but I think we’ve all learned not to underestimate the importance of human experience and expertise.

If you’re interested in learning more about TA Services and finding out if we may be the right full-service 3PL provider for your business, get in touch today.

And don’t forget to come back for the next installment of our Dream Team series. We’ll be hearing from Brady Thames, VP of Marketing & Sales at TA Services, who will be sharing insights on how to get the most out of your relationship with a 3PL.