If You Are Struggling with Freight Delivering On-Time, Partner with a Quality 3PL Freight Provider
The right third-party logistics freight provider (3PL) can help you improve on-time performance as well as achieve long-term goals using its expertise and services.
A high-quality third-party logistics freight provider (3PL) can help with your transportation and logistics management, and project coordination, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business. Whether your company is looking to expand your customer base, venture into new markets, or create more positive consumer experiences, 3PL freight providers can help you achieve your goals using industry expertise, specialized technologies, and excellent services.
Why Partner with a 3PL Freight Provider?
In today’s economy, being on time is just as important as shipping complete orders. If you’re only dealing with carriers, or, if you’re dealing with 3PLs making use of massive numbers of owner-operators, achieving successful transportation metrics is challenging. Here are some of the many advantages of working with a 3PL.
On-time performance. Quality 3PL providers will likely have specialized technology that increases transparency, enhances tracking capabilities, and provides clear and precise communication that results in on-time performance rates in the mid to high 90th percentiles.
Cost savings. As experts in logistics, effective 3PLs have an extensive network of quality-oriented carriers and they leverage those relationships to achieve competitive shipping costs and real commitments to handling lanes.
Expertise and knowledge. Understanding the ever-changing state of the market today, and where it might be in a few months, is a full-time job. Solid 3PL freight providers have the knowledge and experience to streamline processes and provide business intelligence optimization, KPI reporting, and 24/7/365 expert logistics support.
Increase your logistics capacity. More customers and market share are everyone’s goals. This may require a larger scale of transportation procurement and logistics operations, which tend to be complicated and expensive. Superior 3PLs have the network and resources to increase your logistics capacity with a single point of contact that will not overwhelm an in-house team.
Business growth. Partnering with a successful 3PL freight provider will allow you to focus more on growing your business because you will have a team of experts helping to manage your transportation logistics while bolstering your breadth of providers.
Improve customer satisfaction. All the aforementioned benefits will improve your services and customer response time, timely deliveries, and greater brand reliability, making navigating issues stress-free for you and your customers. With a reputation that people can trust, partnering with a quality 3PL will surely satisfy your customers.
What to Look for in a 3PL Freight Provider
A quality 3PL understands how crucial transportation logistics and supply chain management are to the success of an organization. They have the skills and processes that will enhance your company’s transportation logistics operations, including high-quality service, cutting-edge technology, and carefully designed procedures that ensure safe, on-time freight delivery.
A quality-managed, respected 3PL should clearly outline its carrier selection process and the ways in which they continuously evaluate and monitor the carrier’s operating authority and documentation. You want to find a 3PL that will verify each carrier’s USDOT and FMCSA profiles, their compliance performance, and their insurance.
The right 3PL should also require that their carriers execute a written broker-motor-carrier agreement and maintain copies of those documents to verify their compliance. An effective 3PL values its relationships with customers and carriers and takes pride in moving freight in industries where reputation and track record are paramount.