Buoyed by the growth of domestic transportation management, the overall US market for third-party logistics was on pace to grow 5.1 percent in 2017, according to consulting firm and analyst Armstrong & Associates. Leading the growth are domestic managed-transportation companies such as Penske, Ryder, and Transplace, and freight brokerage companies such as C.H. Robinson and Coyote Logistics that were on pace for more than 9 percent growth in net revenue, up from 7 percent in 2016. Among the underlying factors for this growth was tightening trucking capacity, especially in the second half of the year as the US recovered from hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, and as economic growth accelerated. Armstrong expects capacity to stay fairly tight, leading to 9 to 10 percent growth in domestic transportation management in 2018. The international transportation segment, however, faced significant headwinds in 2017, with net revenue declining 1.9 percent, according to Armstrong. Still, that marked an improvement over 2015-2016, as severe pricing pressure on freight forwarders eased a bit, especially on the container shipping side. Also altering the landscape is rapid expansion of e-commerce, as some shippers shift cargo to air, creating new demands — and, in some cases, strains — on airfreight networks. This webcast will explore the underlying factors — economic growth, sector-specific performance, and geopolitical risks — driving the direction of the North American and global logistics industry, and the technology and other initiatives 3PLs are implementing to address them.
Moderator
Chris Brooks, Executive Editor, The Journal of Commerce and JOC Events, Maritime & Trade, IHS Markit
Speaker(s)
Richard Armstrong, Chairman, Armstrong & Associates
Jack Oney, CEO, Oney Consulting
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Interested in sponsoring this webcast? For more information, please contact Tony Stein at Tony.Stein@ihsmarkit.com
