Logistics for the Logisticians: Expedited Air & Ground Services for 3PL Providers
Logistics is essential for success in any industry, but it has become so complex in recent years that many businesses have given up trying to handle it internally. Instead, they leave it to the professionals, contracting with third-party logistics (3PL) businesses to take care of the transportation, warehousing, and broader supply chain management. 3PL businesses benefit from greater specialization, direct experience, and the ability to invest in a large enough number of logistics resources to benefit from economies of scale.
3PL businesses’ success has created new challenges.
Ironically, these businesses deal with logistical mishaps beyond what their existing infrastructure can handle. 3PL companies have been expanding resources to cope with this new demand, but in the meantime, it can be difficult to stay ahead of their obligations. In this situation, expedited freight providers become essential.
AirFreight.com offers the gold standard in expedited freight solutions.
As an emergency delivery broker, we’re used to helping companies out of logistical jams, and we have no trouble providing that help to companies in the logistics business. We provide an extensive network of cargo airline affiliates across North America. Through these resources and our centralized planning operations, we help 3PL providers overcome all the challenges of their industry, including:
Warehousing Woes
As demand grows, so must the amount of available space, and 3PL businesses have to avoid both paying for space they don’t use and failing to obtain the amount of space they need. Ordinarily, 3PL businesses expand and contract their available warehouse space in tandem with need. But when there’s a sudden shock to the system—say, a client that demands a larger delivery than usual or a truckload that needs to stay in its warehouse because the original delivery didn’t work out—3PL businesses often have to scramble to find the space for all their inventory.
The Coverage Network
AirFreight.com takes the pressure off of 3PL companies’ warehousing needs. Thanks to our enormous web of cargo airline affiliates, truckers, and vehicles, we have the ability to reach any payload on the continent, load it up, and deliver it to its destination anywhere else on the continent within 24 hours. By keeping your items moving even in the face of disruptive deliveries and unstable demand, we make sure you never have more inventory on hand than your storage capacity can handle.
3PL Provider Shipping Challenges
Experienced 3PL providers know how to minimize the potential for weather to disrupt their plans, notably by planning their deliveries in such a way that they don’t avoid areas with frequent storms or ice during the particular season when they’re making a delivery. But between the changing climate and the inherent unpredictability of inclement weather, no company can ever make 100% sure that their shipment won’t get disrupted. Sooner or later, you’re going to find yourself with a payload of items that you can’t get to the destination on the ordinary route.
Finding the Best Route
AirFreight.com is adept at finding the best routes with ideal weather conditions throughout North America. The size of our network supports our operations against weather changes. Having both airline and trucking affiliates means that if some form of weather makes one delivery method infeasible, we’ll use the other. And having so many successful cargo companies and experienced drivers in our network means we can easily find people with the expertise to deliver safely and swiftly under all conditions.
Keeping in Contact
3PL providers need to maintain open communications with their customers. But like all other priorities, communication is scrambled when 3PL providers suffer a logistical mishap and have to turn to expedited freight providers. In these situations, 3PL providers have to first get information from their expedited partner before they can pass it on to the customer.
Regular Updates
AirFreight.com avoids this confusing game of telephone by staying in regular contact with all our clients, including 3PL companies. From the moment we load up your items until the moment we’ve delivered them, we give you detailed updates on the location, condition, and estimated delivery time. We also have a central line open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which you can call anytime for more detailed updates on your order.
Complex Timelines
It’s not uncommon for a 3PL provider to have hundreds of trucks on the road or planes in the air at any given time, with each vehicle having complex timelines for delivering, handing off, or storing the items they’re carrying. Such a complex operation is inevitable if you want to do business on a large scale for a variety of customers, each with unique delivery needs. But the more complicated it gets, the more layered successful operations become.
Advanced Tech
AirFreight.com’s resources and advanced technology allow us to replace parts throughout your 3PL chain quickly, should they go missing or become delayed. Because our vehicles are spread so widely across North America, we can easily identify a truck close to the location of your items and dispatch it to pick those items up. Once we have the items, we’ll get right on the road toward their destination, and will use our centralized tracking and planning infrastructure to make sure it stays on the fastest, most reliable route.
Scheduled and Charter Flights
If the destination in question is an airport, we’ll either get it there in time for its flight or, if the flight has already left, schedule space for it on another flight to its final destination. If scheduled flights are limited, we can charter a new flight specifically for your items. One way or another, we’ll complete the delivery and make sure that a momentary lapse in your system never gets out of hand.
