Armstrong & Associates

The trio of strong consumer demand, ongoing supply chain bottlenecks, and tight carrier capacity worked in tandem to drive air, ground, and ocean transportation rates to all-time highs in 2021, with shippers turning to third-party logistics (3PL) services providers on various fronts, including inventory replenishment and avoiding stock outs, according to a new report recently issued by Milwaukee-based supply chain consultancy Armstrong & Associates.

New report on 3PL market from Armstrong & Associates (A&A) finds year-over-year 2021 saw the fastest 3PL market growth since A&A began this research 1995.

Just like last year, 3PLs continue to face a host of critical and pressing issues that challenge their skills at managing a client’s supply chain. And while company financials for 2021 were staggering, the state of the market in 2022 depends on the pace of global recovery— which currently seems to be slowing.

Congestion and capacity shortages have been big subjects among forwarders and have resulted in high air, ground and ocean rates. The shortage of capacity has pushed freight rates to historic highs during the last 18 months. Forwarders are banking on technology to build in more agility.

A new report recently issued by Milwaukee-based supply chain consultancy Armstrong & Associates, entitled “Dedicated Contract Carriage vs. Dedicated Truckload Capacity—The Search for Untapped Capacity,” takes a deep dive into the challenges the trucking sector faces, at a time when capacity is perhaps tighter than it has ever been.

Despite the high hurdles facing the freight forwarding industry, positive indicators point to continued growth especially for forwarders with the resources, capability, and the culture to adapt.

The company announced that it will hire 7,000 associates through the end of 2020 to meet demand fueled both by the peak holiday shopping season and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Entitled “DIGITIZATION: The Convergence of Modern Freight Brokerage, Digital Freight Matching, and Automation in Domestic Transportation Management (DTM),” the report examines the digital transformation steps for becoming a digital freight broker, focusing on systems to augment a Transportation Management System (TMS) to digitize DTM, while also addressing what the firm called the “rapid technological changes” within the DTM third-party logistics (3PL) segment over the last five years. This follows a 2016 report produced by the firm, in which it coined the...

In this exclusive three-part interview, Evan Armstrong, president of the consultancy, explains the current volatile and uncertain business environment, an increasing number of logistics providers are being forced to take dramatic action to generate positive impact rapidly.

“Increasingly Strategic: Trends in 3PL/Customer Relationships,” is an expanded update of Armstrong & Associates’ best-selling report.

Armstrong & Associates has announced the release of its latest report, "Increasingly Strategic: Trends in 3PL/Customer Relationships.”

According Evan Armstrong, there are “three phases of business problems” that currently need to be addressed.

In a move geared towards augmenting its end-to-end supply chain service offerings, Copenhagen, Denmark-based A.P. Moller Maersk, an integrated container logistics services provider, said yesterday it inked an agreement to acquire El Segundo, Calif.-based Performance Team, a provider of warehousing and distribution services.

Following the November announcement that Dallas-based MODE Transportation, a non-asset 3PL offering truckload, less-than-truckload, intermodal, ocean, rail, air, and managed transportation services, said it entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Jacksonville, Fla.-based SunteckTTS, a multimodal transportation solutions provider, MODE officials said this week that the deal is now official.

E-commerce has become a growth driver in all 3PL segments and working with or against Amazon remains a hot topic, notes Evan Armstrong, president of the consultancy, Armstrong & Associates.