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as a major threat to the supply chain industry. “This is not a surprise as we are seeing such shippers as Amazon, Alibaba and JD.com take the lead and management of logistics and transport services to further meet the demands of their customers,” noted Cathy Roberson, author of the report and head analyst of Logistics Trends & Insights.


3PL study


She cited a 3PL study from Penn State University in the US, which found that 53% of 3PL customers were planning to reduce the number of 3PLs they used – up from 47% a year earlier. And while 92% of 3PLs thought they were providing innovative and efficient logistics solutions, only 73% of their customers agreed with them.


Digitisation, meanwhile, seems to hold little fear for forwarders, who seem very much aware that the world is changing.


Some 40% said that online marketplaces are an opportunity, with only 14% citing them as a threat, while 54% said digitisation is “extremely important” to their strategy. Only 14% feel lukewarm about it, saying it is “somewhat important”. But how forwarders plan to tackle it varies. About one-third said they are building their own solutions, while 28% are opting for off-the-shelf platforms. Partnership accounted for 18% and 16% plan to achieve digitisation through acquisition.


The greatest threats to freight forwarders


A new survey of freight forwarders has found that they believe insourcing is the major threat they face, with tight margins their major frustration


This article first appeared in the newsletter The Loadstar and BIFA is grateful to the author, Alex Lennane, for permission to reproduce it in BIFAlink.


Shipper insourcing, rather than digital disruption, is the greatest threat to freight forwarders, while


August 2018


tight margins are their biggest pain point, according to a survey out recently. The Evolving Freight Forwarding Market 2018


report reveals that 54% of respondents thought shippers doing it for themselves is the trend or innovation most likely to threaten the forwarding market. Only 2% fear 3D printing, once oft-cited


New service providers “Traditional freight forwarding is fading, making way for a new type of service provider that quickly responds to the needs of shippers in today’s fast-paced environment and provides value-added services that were unheard of just a few years ago,” said Ms Roberson. Interestingly, despite industry concerns over


margins in ecommerce, 46% of respondents – by far the largest share – think e-commerce is the most promising sector for them, with the next largest category, high-tech, cited by just 14%. Another high-value vertical, pharmaceuticals, was cited by 12%, as was retail, while automotive came in at 10% and food and beverages at just 6%.


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