The evolution of warehousing is causing that industry’s relationship with trucking to change, according to Mike Jenkins, president of the International Warehouse Logistics Association.
He said warehouses are competing more and more with trucking to provide both transportation and logistics services. Growing numbers of warehouses offer what Jenkins called “fourth-party” logistics services, integrating the various components of the supply chain in order to manage it.
“Customers want to buy transportation services from a single source,” Jenkins said in a July 9 speech to transportation reporters and executives at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. That means warehouse operators are increasingly making transportation decisions.
“Warehousing is the largest shipper in the U.S.” he said. “As warehouse operators increasingly provide integrated logistics services, they will be deciding who chooses the carriers instead of the shippers.”
Eighty-five percent of IWLA’s 600 members offer transportation services in addition to standard warehousing. Fully a quarter of his members provide trucking services.
On the flip side, more trucking companies are providing logistics services, further blurring the lines between transportation and logistics.
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