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Bid season is a massive puzzle. It’s a timed challenge in which you have to make the right moves with the right players in the hopes that you put together a profitable arrangement for the year to come. So how do you put together a winning year of business? Here are three key ideas to keep you headed toward bid success.

Just how much freight do 3PLs or brokers move for tens of thousands of shippers every day? Here’s an interesting fact: The $166 billion third-party logistics industry is 1.5 times the size of the beer market and four times larger than the market for candy.

Progress rarely is painless, and few know this better than transportation and logistics providers, who have seen their industry transformed by changes at virtually every step in the supply chain. But change often brings both challenge and opportunity – and there is opportunity aplenty for freight brokers and carriers that want to expand into the 3PL category.

Online purchasing, which increased 45% between 2015 and 2016, has risen another 14%, leading to estimates of a mighty $459 billion in sales by year’s end, according to a recent report from industry trend tracker retailtouchpoints.comThis upward trajectory of online sales resulting from the omni-channel and e-commerce shopping experiences has placed third-party logistics (3PLs) providers and shipping agents in a favorable position: with supply chain participants reconsidering their respective freight-movement strategies, transferring to smaller vehicles, modified routing, or streamlined loads, 3PLs are becoming increasingly valuable in helping shippers determine the best transport methods.

“Hang on, we’re in for a bumpy ride.”

As a third-party logistics service provider (3PL), your job is to deliver outstanding value to your shippers. One essential tool for achieving that goal is logistics software.

TMW recently sat down with Robert Voltmann, President and CEO of Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) to discuss a number of topics related to the 3PL industry. In this blog, he discusses possible impacts to the industry under the new Trump administration and the benefits to carriers of using brokers.

Congratulations, you’ve been awarded a new freight contract. But wait, a few surprises buried within the transportation RFP might make it difficult, if not impossible, for Operations to efficiently and profitably execute the business.