TIA 3PL Market Report

Challenging market conditions on various fronts, for freight transportation brokers and intermediaries, were the main themes of the new edition of the “3PL Market Report Fourth Quarter 2023, which was issued this week by the Alexandria, Va.-based Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA).

A key takeaway of the report highlighted how the GDP Goods Transport Sector reading saw a 6.5% increase, from the second quarter to the third quarter, which snapped a five-quarter stretch of negative or nearly negative sequential quarter growth. And TIA noted that this was in line with the U.S. third quarter advance estimate reading of 4.9%.

Truckload was the only segment to see a gain for shipment volumes, up 1.9% sequentially, and down 1.4% annually. LTL was off 2.8% sequentially and 5.8% annually, with intermodal down 2.4% sequentially and 16.4% annually. Other modes were down 0.2% sequentially and 11.5% annually.

Total quarterly shipments increased 6.8%, from the second quarter to the third quarter, and saw a 10.6% annual gain, and total revenue saw a 10.3% increase, from the second quarter to the third quarter, while seeing a 36.1% annual gain.