In today’s global and increasingly competitive world, shippers and importers alike are always looking for ways to gain an edge on their competition and improve upon their own inefficiencies to ultimately add to the bottom line. The reality is that in many cases, companies invest heavily in internal resources to fulfill logistics related tasks that could easily be outsourced seamlessly to 3PLs (third party logistics providers). There are many advantages for shippers and importers of all sizes to consider this option and the top 5 reasons are outlined below:
1. Save money and time
3PLs have made significant investments in qualified personnel, training, infrastructure, customized tracking tools, and software to coordinate the movement of goods moving around the world for various clients spanning many industries simultaneously. By working through a 3PL, your company does not need to make any of these investments. It is like having a team of employees that work free of charge to find you the best logistics solutions at rate levels that you may not have access to otherwise. Coordinating the movement of shipments around the world, developing warehousing and distribution solutions, managing cross border clearances, are some of the main activities that 3PLs live and breathe daily to develop cost effective solutions to the toughest logistics challenges for you at no cost. With this in mind, you can rest assured that by partnering with the right 3PL, your shipments are in safe hands.
2. Focus on your core competencies
Working through a 3PL allows you to focus more time and resources on what is really important to your business; whether that is improving your manufacturing processes, engineering or simply focusing on your marketing efforts to increase client engagement and develop sales opportunities. Forget the details and the complexities that go along with moving your freight around the world. Let a 3PL whose core competency is dealing with all of the details, paperwork, customs, and the multitude of carriers globally and let them take the headache out of the whole process so that you can really focus on what matters to grow your business. Additionally, 3PLs have invested in the manpower to process an immense number of bills and payments to the various parties involved in moving your goods allowing you to reduce your overhead dramatically.
3. Lower your risk
By letting a good 3PL handle your shipments, you limit the possibility that something along the way will go wrong, potentially delaying your shipments and costing you large sums of money. 3PLs move goods around the world every day and they have more experience than anyone in navigating their way through the complex international world of customs, paperwork, declarations, timelines, terminology, etc. Let them work through the intricacies to get your goods delivered to destination when you need them there.
4. Better visibility
Most 3PLs have invested in Transportation Management Systems allowing you access to customized portals so that all of the tracking details are at your fingertips at your convenience. That way you know where all of your shipments are at all times at the click of a button so that you do not need to hire additional internal resources to keep track of your goods. Have a need for customized reporting or integration with your own IT systems? Partner with the right 3PL that strives to fully understand your business, has the capability to meet your reporting and integration requirements, and that can successfully act as an extension of your company seamlessly. In addition, your 3PL should provide you with access to a dedicated account manager that you can contact directly 24/7, to ensure that you are never more than a phone call away to getting the latest update.
5. Access to more carriers and better rates
3PLs can have negotiated contract rates with thousands of carriers for all modes of transport. Instead of tying up your own resources to figure out what is the best carrier option and most cost effective rate for your specific move, let a 3PL do that work for you at no cost. Many 3PLs have more buying power and access to more competitive rates than your company due to the large number of shipments that they handle daily.
In summary, partnering with the right 3PL has some clear advantages. Collaborate with a 3PL that can become a fully transparent extension of your company and integrate with your IT systems as per your requirements. This will in turn allow your company to focus on its core competencies, reduce internal costs by dramatically decreasing the need for additional resources, and enjoy competitive volume-based rates with no upfront investment.
Mantoria Inc is a 3PL based out of Canada, specializing in freight forwarding, warehousing, distribution, specialized cargo moves, and customs brokerage. Please contact one of our representatives for more information.
