Strong consumer demand, continued supply chain bottlenecks and tight carrier capacity sent air, ground and ocean transportation rates soaring to historic levels in 2021 as shippers leaned on third-party logistics providers to bolster inventories and avoid product stockouts.

The COVID-19 outbreak created a volatile U.S. third-party logistics market in 2020, which presented growth opportunities for 3PLs with strong carrier management, e-commerce and airfreight forwarding capabilities, while other 3PLs did not fare as well.

Coming off an extraordinary growth market in 2018, third-party logistics companies operating in the United States experienced a more mixed year in 2019.

The two main drivers of growth for logistics companies in 2018 were an inventory buildup to beat tariffs and solid expansion in the domestic economy.