The Logistical Lowdown

What the truck is going on? 

Trucking bankruptcies have been a hot topic over the past year, with several larger carriers such as New England Motor Freight, Falcon Transport, and Celadon ceasing operations and in some cases stranding drivers out on the road. In addition to these larger carriers, every week there seems to be another longstanding carrier with 30-plus years in business deciding that the business just wasn’t worth it anymore. What is going on and what do things look like moving forward?

The topic of dedicated logistics operations, whether in transportation or warehousing and distribution, typically elicits an array of responses ranging from “why wouldn’t we just do it ourselves” to “I can’t imagine trying to do this ourselves”.

Truth is, dedicated operations aren’t for everyone, but for many small and mid-size manufacturers outsourcing these logistics functions to a 3PL allows the manufacturer to work on growing its core business and increasing the value provided to their customers.