3 PL
3 PL
3 PL
Reach
By: Thomas A. Foster and Richard Armstrong |
Increasingly, the linchpin for successful worldwide supply chains is a core group of
global 3PLs that can provide the expertise, reach, reliability and flexibility that
multinational corporations need. These global 3PLs provide transportation,
consolidation, forwarding and customs brokerage, warehousing, fulfillment,
distribution and virtually any logistics and trade-related services that their
international customers need.
About 100 3PLs now control almost a third of an estimated $270bn that is spent on
outsourced value-added logistics services each year around the world. Within this
group of global 3PLs, an elite group of 25 companies account for about one-third of
all global 3PL activity. Their annual revenues exceed $79.5bn, and in 2004, these
revenues will grow between six and eight percent - twice the world GDP rate.
Europeans Rule
Not surprisingly, the seven largest global 3PLs are all European-based companies.
The top seven companies on our list together earned more than $42bn last year,
which is more than all of the other 3PLs in the Top 25 combined. U.K.-based Exel
holds the top spot on the list with revenues of $8.3bn. The number two and three
spots go to Swiss-based Kuehne & Nagel and German-based Schenker, respectively.
These two companies, along with Panalpina and DHL's Danzas Air & Ocean
operations, have been leading forwarders and transportation management 3PLs in
Europe for decades.
History, empire and exports helped create the large European 3PLs. To illustrate this,
we can compare revenues of the major players in their home countries. Less than
one-third of Exel's revenue is derived from business conducted in its British Isles
home base. Kuehne & Nagel derives 45 percent of its turnover in Europe but less
than 5 percent of it is within Switzerland. By comparison, 80 percent of UPS's
business is conducted in the United States.
European countries, which have always had significantly more cross-border traffic,
have relied more on outsourcing than Americans, especially since World War II.
Outsourcing rates in Europe are estimated by country to be 26 to 60 percent by
Peter Klaus in his "Die Top 100 Der Logistik." 3PL market penetration rates were
estimated at 12 percent for 2003 by Armstrong & Associates. German and Japanese
3PLs grew rapidly during the industrial growth of their countries' exporting
economies after World War II.
Over the last few years nearly every company in Europe has been able to take some
advantage of the free movement of goods across borders. This shift has been good
for the large European 3PLs, but cultural differences still prevent centralization of
operations at U.S. levels. Most 3PL operations in Europe still have to be designed on
a country-by-country basis to be effective.
Leading the global 3PL expansion are UPS, FedEx and DHL. These multibillion-dollar
enterprises already service most of the world on package shipments and are
expanding their offerings to give similar results for less-than-container-load and
container-load shipments. UPS SCS and DHL/Danzas are tied to corporate parents
with large free cash flows to fuel expansion.
In the U.S., for the ninth consecutive year, growth in the 3PL services market
exceeded overall economic growth. Total 3PL turnover increased by 8.2 percent to
$76.9bn. Net revenues for FY 2003 grew by 6.1 percent to $32.9bn following 7
percent growth for FY 2002. Net income increased to 3.9 percent of net revenue
from 3 percent in FY 2002 and 1.7 percent in FY 2001.
Individual company results varied with select companies posting strong results. The
largest U.S.-based 3PL is UPS Supply Chain Solutions (SCS), which has reached
$4.1bn in turnover. UPS SCS was profitable in all four quarters of FY 2003. Standard
UPS operating efficiencies are apparently taking hold. Value-added transportation
manager C.H. Robinson continued to improve its best-in-class results by increasing
net revenue by 12.6 percent to $545m. Its net after-tax income margin increased to
20.9 percent. Turnover was $3.6bn. Net income was $114m.
Among value-added warehouse distribution providers (VAWD), Exel and UPS SCS
continue to be the major players and both had good growth and improved
profitability. Among mid-sized VAWD 3PLs, such as Kenco, Genco, Jacobson and
DSC, revenue growth exceeded 10 percent.
These mid-sized, privately held VAWD 3PLs are often very competitive and are
gaining business quickly. They all also increased their profitability. These companies
are improving their core warehousing offerings, adding more value-added options,
expanding their transportation offerings and improving integrated solutions. They
are not yet among the global players.
The trend overall is for more integrated, technical and velocity-driven solutions for
all 3PLs. Web-based inventory tracking and event management are necessities. In
recent research done by Armstrong & Associates on the VAWD segment, the most
requested value-added services were reverse logistics, vendor/inventory
management and customization/subassembly. With regard to transportation value-
adds, the major requirements are for international transportation/ customs
brokerage assistance, expanded IT/visibility and domestic transportation network
management. These value-added preferences reflect the global trends to overseas
outsourcing, longer supply chains and better information control.
The ranks of these global players will continue to concentrate in the near future.
Three important trends are driving this path to fewer and larger global 3PLs:
1. The world's largest manufacturers and retailers have solidly adopted the logistics
outsourcing concept, and they prefer to do business with other larger companies,
including their 3PLs.
2. While more and more manufacturing, sourcing and other supply chain activities
are happening in places like China, India, Latin America and other emerging
markets, required logistics capabilities often do not yet exist in these regions. The
Global 1000 companies operating in these markets want global logistics providers
that can expand operations wherever they are needed and move from region to
region as manufacturing sources change.
3. To quickly grow in size, capability and geographic reach, global 3PLs must expand
by acquisition. The big 3Pls that intend to be among the handful of truly global
players are under great pressure to eat or be eaten by their competition.
Bigger is Better
Global corporations increasingly want single points of contact for their outsourced
logistics. For example, a few years ago, General Motors formed Vector, a logistics
management company that it jointly owns with CNF Inc., the parent of Con-Way
Transportation, Menlo Worldwide and its subsidiary, Menlo Logistics. This so-called
4PL runs much of GM's supply chain in the U.S., but the actual logistics operations
have been subcontracted to other 3PLs, including TNT North America, Penske and
several others. The logistics subcontractors are doing the inbound materials
management, dedicated contract carriage, cross-docking and other logistics tasks,
but Vector is GM's one point of contact.
We are seeing this trend play out as the Global 1000 corporations send out their
requests for proposal for logistics services. Often only the very top players are being
asked to bid, and the bar for what constitutes a top player keeps rising. The smaller
players may be great companies, but they end up performing parts of the total
logistics contract as subcontractors. Large corporations are often looking for larger
3PLs with financial stability and wide geographic coverage.
This trend will increase as more companies become virtual manufacturers producing
nothing themselves. Cisco, for example, outsources its production operations except
for marketing, sales and high level management. Virtual companies use world-class
contract manufacturers like Solectron and Flextronics, but they also need the best
logistics capabilities to manage their extended supply chains. Increasingly, that
means using 3PLs.
In the automotive industry, large 3PLs dominate the market because they can offer
a combination of asset and non-asset capabilities. Penske, Ryder and TNT all have a
combination of supply-chain management, transportation execution management
and planning capabilities, as well as cross-docking and VAWD capabilities.
Automotive logistics 3PLs often provide assets for dedicated contract carriage milk
runs from suppliers to plants and value-added services on components just before
they are delivered to the production line. The financial muscle to afford these
capabilities only exists at a handful of 3PLs.
Expanding Coverage
Booming world trade has fostered longer and more complex supply chains, which in
turn has created a pressing need for better logistics in all corners of the world. In
China, where a few hundred factories manufacture a large portion of the world's
garments, consumer electronics and other products, the logistics infrastructure can
be quite primitive, especially as one moves inland. The major retailers and
manufacturers outsourcing to these factories are using their relationships with large
3PLs to control how their overseas vendors perform their logistics. A few large 3PLs
under the control of the U.S. or European buyers handle the logistics from the
factories to the ultimate destination. Since these buyers are likely to change their
suppliers as cost savings dictate, the 3PLs must be able to manage the logistics
flows from any origin to any destination. The actual logistics operations needed
currently center on fairly simple operations such as transportation, consolidation and
forwarding, but information technology and logistics planning requirements are
growing rapidly more complex.
The globalization of 3PLs will spread around the world, although more slowly in
many areas where 3PLs have gained limited market entry. The modern outsourced
logistics model, where manufacturers and their 3PLs have become business partners
with shared authority and responsibility over entire supply chains, has yet to be
adopted in many regions. This model is the norm in the U.S., Western Europe,
Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and some parts of Mexico and Brazil. Outside of
these areas 3PLs are still treated functionally: The 3PL is hired to perform one task
such as warehousing.
As large corporations expand their businesses and their processes to all regions of
the world, the need for better logistics continues to transform 3PLs and forces them
to become supply-chain partners. In most cases, this transformation is accompanied
by acquisition.
On the other hand, European 3PLs continue to add to their capabilities in the U.S.,
which remains the largest and most attractive market. Last year Deutsche Post,
through its DHL subsidiary, acquired Airborne to expand its express business. In the
near future, we expect Deutsche Post or its competitor, Schenker, to add to
capabilities in the U.S. with acquisitions in warehousing, distribution and
transportation.
We are also likely to see other European players, and perhaps some Asian-based
3PLs acquire mid-sized U.S. 3PLs that have long been strong players in the VAWD
sector. Recent examples include the purchases of USCO by the Swiss-based Kuehne
& Nagel and Standard Warehouse by UTI. Companies like Kenco, based in
Chattanooga, and Chicago-based DSC receive inquiries continually. These 3PLs,
many of which are family owned or closely held, are reluctant to sell because
business is good and the owners enjoy what they're doing.
The attractiveness of the U.S. market is not the only reason foreign companies are
interested in U.S.-based 3PLs. European 3PLs are coming to the U.S. to make sure
that they are strong enough to compete against UPS, FedEx and other U.S.-based
logistics providers that are aggressively entering their home markets. It is market
positioning on a global scale.
On the other hand, 3PLs that take full responsibility for all transportation services do
much better. These transportation-oriented 3PLs can leverage the volume and
freight flows of multiple customers to obtain better rates than any one customer
could negotiate. A good portion of these savings goes to the 3PL's bottom line. Good
examples of transportation-oriented 3PLs that understand how to make money are
C.H. Robinson, Expeditors and Landstar. These profitable companies control the
transportation spend. They are not interested in having accounts where they simply
provide transportation management and clerical functions on a cost-plus basis.
Conclusion
There will be winners and losers in the global 3PL race. The shakeout that is coming
parallels what happened in the U.S. during the 1980s after transportation
deregulation. Then, a small group of carriers grew rapidly by out-performing the
competition. They won market share. Other primarily higher cost companies either
went out of business, or retreated to small, defensible niches. In today's 3PL
market, there will be a small group of big operators with global reach and
international skills that will dominate worldwide logistics. They will have to grow fast
enough to service the largest customers and to avoid being commoditized by those
customers. At the other end of the market, there will also be niche players that will
often end up working for the global 3PLs. There will be limited room for mid-sized
generalists.
Only time will tell who the winners and losers will be. For now, we present a
comprehensive analysis of the 25 3PLs that are leading in the global race. This
selection has been made on turnover, current coverage, breadth of skills and parent
company gravitas.
Top 25 3PLs
1. Exel plc Berkshire, UK, London: EXL
Exel Americas Westerville, OH, 800-272-1052,
Brice Edwards, CEO
www.exel.com
3PL Revenue: 8.3bn Parent Revenue: 8.3bn
Coverage: Asia