3PL customer satisfaction levels drop by 7%, says annual report
More than 80% of shippers would describe their 3PL relationship as “successful,” down from 90% in 2022, according to the "2023 Third-Party Logistics Study."
Susan Lacefield has been working for supply chain publications since 1999. Before joining DC VELOCITY, she was an associate editor for Supply Chain Management Review and wrote for Logistics Management magazine. She holds a master's degree in English.
Traditionally, third-party logistics providers (3PLs) and their customers have enjoyed close relationships and high satisfaction levels. But the supply chain disruptions and economic volatility of the last year have put a strain on even the tightest partnerships.
The “2023 Third-Party Logistics Study,” which was released today at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) annual EDGE conference, found that shippers’ satisfaction with their 3PL relationship has declined by 7% from last year. While the vast majority of shipper respondents (83%) still view their 3PL relationship as “successful,” that percentage has historically hovered at 90% or more, according to the report.
According to one of the report’s authors, Sylvie Thompson of NTT Data Services, this drop occurs at the same time that demand for third-party logistics services has increased significantly and that many 3PLs have more work than they can handle. Part of the change in satisfaction level may be a reflection of this shift in power dynamics and that 3PLs may be differentiating their customer service levels, she said in an interview.
“There’s also been a macroeconomic shift, particularly in terms of wages,” added Andy Moses, senior vice president of global products for Penske Logistics, a sponsor of the study. “3PLs can’t insulate their customers from these macroeconomic shifts, and there may be some tension there.”
The report was founded 27 years ago by John Langley, currently the Clinical Professor of Supply Chain Management at Penn State University to provide an in-depth look at the trends and developments in 3PL market. This year’s report—which is now also authored by NTT Data Services and sponsored by Penske Logistics—details a market that has had to deal with unexpected challenges at the same time that customer expectations have grown.
In spite of the slip in overall satisfaction level, the report indicated that 71% of shippers believe that their 3PL has contributed to improving customer service, and 71% have also found that 3PLs provide new and innovative ways to improve logistics effectiveness. It is perhaps not surprising then, that slightly more than half of all shippers (55%) are increasing their use of outsourced logistics services. However, 71% are considering consolidating the number of 3PLs used.
In addition to reviewing the current state of the market, this year’s study also delved deep into three key themes: the talent crisis, reverse logistics, and seven basic principles that the researchers believe are essential to supply chain success.
The scramble for talent
The report paints a picture of a supply chain sector feeling the effects of the current labor shortages. According to survey results, 56% of 3PLs and 78% of shippers said labor shortages have impacted their supply chain operations, with many respondents seeing the labor shortages as a long-term crisis.
According to survey respondents, the hardest positions to fill are certified licensed hourly workers, such as truck drivers and equipment operators, as well as pickers and packers. Interestingly the study found that 3PLs are better able to fill hourly worker positions than shippers. According to the report, 49% of 3PLs say they take less than a month to fill an hourly position, compared to 32% of shippers. Perhaps in acknowledgement of this fact, 73% of 3PLs and 46% of shippers report that companies are seeking out 3PL partners to offset labor shortages.
“This is an area of fanatic focus for 3PLs that they have no choice but to navigate,” said Penske’s Moses. “It’s one of the reasons why shippers choose to outsource to a 3PL, because they can’t have the same fanatic focus.”
Going in reverse
Another trend in the logistics field is the growing importance of reverse logistics, particularly as e-commerce sales increase.
To take a closer look at this segment of the supply chain, the report divided shippers into two groups: those that accept both consumer and business returns and those that only accept business returns. A significant majority (61%) of consumer-facing shippers expect their returns volume to grow in the next three years, while only 43% of business-exclusive shippers expect them to grow. However, high percentages of both groups (65% for consumer-facing shippers and 60% of business-exclusive shippers) said that their customers’ expectations for the returns process is growing.
In spite of this growth, the majority of shippers are handling reverse logistics operations in house as opposed to outsourcing to a 3PL. Furthermore, only about a third expect to outsource a greater portion of their reverse logistics operations over the next three years. According to Thompson, many 3PLs struggle to provide shippers with a viable reverse logistics solution given the fact that the focus of reverse logistics often involves reducing losses as opposed to adding value. Additionally reverse logistics and returns management processes are often highly category-specific making it difficult to provide a single solution.
7 success principles
Finally, the report authors highlight what they call the “Seven Immutable Laws of Supply Chain Success,” which include
Customer focus
Supply chain relationships
Data and analytics
Innovation and transformation
Survivability and sustainability
Talent, and
End-to-end supply chain
The authors felt that this “back to basics” section serves as good reminder to both 3PLs and shippers on the building blocks of a good supply chain partnership. The report did find that there are some difference among 3PLs and shippers on which of these principles are perceived to be the top priority and how mature the companies are in each area. Shippers, for example, rank data and analysis as most important, while 3PL rated innovation and transformation is as the top principle.
The study and past versions are available for download at www.3PLStudy.com.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.