Five Reasons to Choose a Managed Transportation Strategy

A grueling, two-year inflationary freight cycle now shows signs of turning. Shippers with complex needs and tight budgets are outsourcing more of their freight to managed transportation providers. Here are five key reasons why: 

1 Skilled Talent is Scarce     

After two brutal years, shippers are likely to see the U.S. freight market turn in their favor in the next 6 to 12 months. But making the most of the market shift won’t be easy: Capacity will be tight, with many truckers, 3PLs and freight brokers having left the industry. For shippers, two lean years of cost-cutting have left headcount depleted. 

No one consistently rides market cycles perfectly, but the right planning, expertise and optimal balance of physical staffing and technology can help. Supply chain complexity and costs have risen sharply, partly because of omnichannel e-commerce growth. There is now a greater need than ever for planning around resilience, customer expectations and regulatory compliance. 

Bringing the right talent in-house can be a challenge in a tight labor market with a persistent skills gap. Small and midsized companies with limited resources, and large companies navigating multi-lane, multi-carrier complexity, are handing off some or all of their freight to third-party providers with the vital expertise, optimization/automation solutions, and access to trucking and warehouse capacity already in place.  

“When you think about headcount, there’s the obvious cost of salary,” explains Danielle Shuey, Vice President of Service Delivery with Chicago-based logistics solutions and managed transportation provider Loadsmart. “But there’s the added expense of managing headcount — including investment in recruitment, training and retention.”

2 Scalability Takes Flexibility

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