RoadLINX Inc Third Party Logistics Keeps Haulage Trucking | Page 9

THIRD PARTY LOGISTICS (3PL)
In recent years companies have tried to consolidate their rising operational costs by outsourcing non-core business
activities to third party specialists. The reason for doing this is to not only save costs but to get improved
performance that would be unfeasible to obtain themselves. This can be down to 3PL companies have specialized
skills or simply through efficiencies of scale or both. Interestingly, trucking companies have found themselves in an
ideal place for entering the burgeoning 3PL market. This is down to their inherent skills and deep knowledge of
transportation and also their transport networks. For example for trucking companies to be successful they need to
be efficient and have shortest paths to the destinations. Now if we consider the USA and Canada for example this
requires that trucking companies have hub warehouses and co-docking facilities at strategic points along the main
North-American continent’s road arteries. These locations can prove to be a god-send for companies that have only
their own central distribution point.