PROTRANS - The Role of Third Party Logistics Service Providers and their Impact on Transport
Overview
Background & policy context:
The international competitiveness of European industry will increasingly depend on its ability to deliver customer-adapted products all over the world quickly and in time. Such a competitive image places a number of demands in the logistics system and management's attitude to how important logistics is as a competitive parameter. In the 1990s, focus has changed from internal efficiency of the logistics function to external relations between the parties of the total supply chain. The largest potential for improvements is not found inside an individual company, but in the interfaces between independent companies in the supply chain. Outsourcing logistics activities has become a relative common principle for companies. Since Third Party Logistics Providers (3PLPs) provide this service for multiple clients, 3PLPs play a significant and increasing role in overall optimised logistics networks.
Objectives:
The main goal of the PROTRANS project is to identify the most important challenges (for whom/what), to determine barriers, success and failure factors and to assess future importance of intermodal transport for 3PLPs strategies at a European level.
Derived from this main goal, research objectives of the PROTRANS project can be listed as follows:
- development of a theoretical framework for an analysis (SWOT analysis) of the 3PLs market in Europe;
- description/mapping of scope (a.o. sectoral specialisation, business sectors of clients, output volumes);
- geographical coverage network and transport options at the 30 most important 3PLs in Europe, including a business profile (turnover, profit, asset base);
- identification (NUTS 2 level) of 12 main logistics regions in Europe, where a concentration of 3PLs can be found, in conjunction with a node position in infrastructure networks and the main European transport corridors;
- analysis of the reasons why these regions have become successful as logistics hubs;
- analysis of present and future requirements (scope, course, network, transport options) of 50 leading shippers operating in a European scale;
- review of the services offered by 3PLs as an answer to the requirements posed;
- analysis of the existing barriers at the 30 leading 3PLs to develop pan-European integrated logistics services (existing framework condition, asset base, change resistance);
- computation of the Intermodal Perception Index;
- integration of results on intermodal market demands, 3PL perception and 3PL future strategies;
- definition of recommendations and actions; and
- dissemination of the projects' results.
Methodology:
In order to achieve this main goal, the work of the project has been divided into 5 tasks (Work Packages):
- Work Package 1: Analysis of the 3PL market
- Work Package 2: Analysis of European logistics regions
- Work Package 3: Market demands and services offered by 3PLPs
- Work Package 4: Intermodality as an integral part of pan European strategies
- Work Package 5: Conclusions, recommendations and dissemination.
In PROTRANS a great amount of interviews have been carried out amongst shippers and logistics service providers. A database has been developed on European 3PLPs and a benchmark of logistics regions in Europe has been carried out. The IPI (Intermodal Perception Index) model has been extended with variables on third party logistics.
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