Call a show. News and analysis for 3PLs and freight brokers.
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Another year and another season trying to make the supply chain resilient and ready – and what the year will look like. Most recently DHL Express He released a study Hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises plan for 2025, which promises to be unexpected.
All in all, overall performance in 2025 and 2024 looks pretty good. 67 percent expect better performance by 2025, despite new regulations, policies and geopolitical uncertainties.
It’s not a big surprise that everyone from consumers to Fortune 500 companies is on a tariff watch. The incoming presidential administration has talked a lot about imposing tariffs, and while the exact percentage of tariffs is still uncertain, it’s a top concern for 67 percent of those surveyed.
According to the study, “While 40% of businesses are still assessing how regulatory and policy changes will affect their growth, there is a split view on the potential impact. 24% believe regulatory changes may have a negative impact on growth, while 20% see these changes as having a positive impact. Trade regulations (67%) are considered the most important area of regulatory change for businesses by 2025, reflecting global trade considerations. It shows continued importance.
It’s only two weeks into the new year, and 30% of those surveyed expect to make some minor adjustments to their supply chain strategy for 2024. And 13% are ready to adjust their approach significantly. That 57% wants to maintain strategies no matter what.
When it comes to growth, which all exporters want to hear about, 40% of survey respondents said the biggest opportunities will be expansion into new markets. 31 percent said economic reforms and the implementation of new technologies (14%) were the top areas of growth.
In the year 2025 looks set to be a year that will test supply chain resilience and exporters’ ability to adapt to new strategies. It comes down to how quickly logistics providers can adapt to new policies, regulations and what else they know.
SONAR TRAC Market Dashboard
TRAC Tuesday. This week’s TRAC route goes from Philadelphia to Chicago – two big freight markets with pretty tight freight balances. One good thing about this lane is that the cost of space is relatively low compared to the national freight index. The cost of this lane is only $1.62 per mile compared to NTI, almost a dollar higher at $2.55.
Both Philadelphia and Chicago remained steady in declining outbound bids — with less than a 30-basis-point change on the week. A long distance route is historically one that carriers are a little hesitant to accept. As a result, the cost of space to board carriers on the 758-mile trip may increase slightly.
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Who with whom. The never-ending battle continues—namely, the battle over whether brokers are liable when carriers who hire brokers are involved in an accident or other incident. The most recent update in the debate began with another signal in favor of 3PLs and freight brokers with a ruling by the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals. The case was presented to the Supreme Court again for the third time. He refused to take it..
The last rejection came from both the plaintiff and the defendant in a case asking the Supreme Court to review the findings of lower courts. as if FreightWaves article Explaining the reason by John Kingston: “TQL affirms the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals decision to protect 3PL. But in conflicting circuit decisions, TQL wrote in its filing that ‘the request is of significant importance to the transportation industry.’
The main sticking point seems to revolve around carriers being brokers and “independent contractors”. When a carrier can be designated as an agent for a broker, that’s when liability lies mostly with the broker. The main test of the definition of the relationship is whether the broker retains the right to control the delivery route, as well as to make hiring decisions. Other reasons.
With two circuit courts in favor of 3PL and one – the 9th Circuit – against, the error in such cases is of course on a court-by-court basis. There is a legal precedent for any outcome. So, while the Supreme Court has yet to weigh in on this battle, I suspect that one day it will.
One consensus that lower courts have identified is how the relationship between carriers and brokers should be defined when the burden is borne.
