New TIA 3PL Market Report shows ongoing solid market conditions

The Transportation Intermediaries Association’s (TIA) recently-released Third Quarter 2021 3PL Market Report again showed strong sequential and annual gains for key brokered freight transportation metrics.

This report is based on monthly data from TIA member companies who submit real operating data and respond to questions on business conditions impacting the 3PL sector. Types of questions that the member companies’ answers include: number of shipments by mode, total billing, and gross margins. Other data collected are customer-based forecasts to offer up expectations of near-term business volume.

TIA officials said that this report represents 1.7 million shipments and more than $3.8 billion in total revenue for the third quarter.

Total quarterly shipments increased 6.8%, from the second quarter to the third quarter, and saw a 10.6% annual gain, and total revenue saw a 10.3% increase, from the second quarter to the third quarter, while seeing a 36.1% annual gain. Invoice amount per shipment was up 3.3%, from the second quarter to the third quarter and rose 23.0% annually. Gross margin percentage was up 60 basis points, from the second quarter to the third quarter and was up 130 basis points annually.

“While our Third Quarter Market Report shows that the overall volumes continue to grow, the growth is less elevated than in previous quarters,” said TIA President & CEO Anne Reinke, in a statement. “Still, capacity is very constrained, and our members have never shown their value more and have never been more necessary to help make freight move fluidly.”

Reinke also told LM that the report’s results indicate that TIA members are seeing continued growth in the marketplace, with total shipments, total revenue, invoice amount per shipment, and gross margin percentage all increasing from the previous quarter—as well as year-over-year.

“While shipment growth has begun to retreat from peak levels over the past year, we view this as more of a response to ongoing supply chain disruptions—opposed to foreshadowing an overall slowdown in marketplace growth,” she added

In a previous interview with LM, Reinke observed that, in terms of underlying themes related to freight transportation brokers, volumes have seen strong increases, with both truckload and LTL seeing solid gains.

And she added that throughout 2021, TIA members, from every revenue classification, have experienced an increase in volumes and gross revenues, albeit recognizing that the costs of transportation and the driver shortage affects their net profitability.

What’s more, Reinke observed that this data provides “more affirmation about the critical role our members play in the supply chain.”