New Logistics Survey Shows Carriers, Brokers and Shippers Rapidly Adopting Technology to Survive

InMotion Global, Inc., the maker of the AscendTMS Transportation Management Software (TMS), today announced the final results of a comprehensive logistics survey that looked at overall technology adoption by trucking companies, freight brokers, and shippers in 2005, 2015, and 2018. Not unexpectedly, the logistics businesses and operations that are flourishing most are those that have managed to lower costs through automation to minimize their human labor force.

The published results are presented in three distinct groups: asset-based carriers, freight brokers, and shippers.

Asset-Based Carriers

In 2018, trucking companies were most likely to use a TMS if they had more than 20 trucks in service (91%). For those carriers with under 10 trucks, the percent using a TMS system falls to just 33%. For those with under 5 trucks in service, TMS use was only 17%.

This shows growth from 2015, where common and contract carriers with over 20 trucks in service used a TMS 89% of the time. For under 10 trucks in service, the percentage of carriers using a TMS was just 31%, and for those with under 5 trucks in service, TMS use was only 16%.

In 2005, the numbers were 62%, 21%, and 7% respectively.

Looking at all carriers surveyed in 2018, those asset-based carriers leveraging TMS technology on a daily basis reported the lowest overall operational costs along with the highest overall revenues per full time employee.

Freight Brokers and 3PL's

Adoption of TMS technology was shown to be faster, overall, with freight brokers and 3PL's than with asset-based carriers. In 2015, freight brokers with over 10 employees were the most likely to be using a TMS system (77%), but in 2018 this number had risen to 86%. For those freight brokers with less than 10 employees, TMS technology was used 56% of the time in 2015, but had risen to 68% in 2018. This number falls to 41% if they have under 5 employees in 2018.

Again, those freight brokers and 3PL's reporting the most technology adoption, which was primarily in using TMS software, show the lowest costs and highest overall revenues per employee. They also showed the highest customer retention by a statistically relevant 16% percentage points when compared to brokers not using TMS software.

Also, those brokers with the greatest technology adoption also had the largest client sizes overall in terms of freight spend and freight volumes. It appears that more TMS technology expertise directly translates into larger and more sophisticated clients being managed.

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