42nd Annual Quest for Quality Awards: Celebrating service excellence in logistics

The editorial staff of Logistics Management (LM) is proud to unveil the results of the “41st Annual Quest for Quality Awards.” This year, our survey results yield 160 providers of transportation and logistics services that have received the ultimate vote of confidence, posting the highest scores across our lists of critical service criteria.

Over the course of four decades, LM’s Quest for Quality has been regarded in the transportation and logistics industry as the most important measure of customer satisfaction and performance excellence. To determine the best of the best, qualified LM readers rate carriers, third-party logistics (3PL) service providers, and U.S. port operators strictly on the basis of service quality, making it the only survey of its kind in the market.

To determine who wins the vote, LM readers evaluate companies in all modes and service disciplines, choosing the top performers in categories including motor carriers, railroad and intermodal services, ocean carriers, airlines, freight forwarders, third party/contract logistics services, and ports.

From January through May of this year, LM and Peerless Research Group (PRG), a division of Peerless Media, surveyed readers who are qualified buyers of logistics and transportation services.

This year our research group received more than 3,017 total responses. In order to be a “winner,” a company had to receive at least 5% of the category vote. The result of this overall effort offers the logistics market a crystal-clear look at not only the overall winner in any given category, but a broad list of companies that finished above the average.

Service providers are evaluated on five key criteria: On-time Performance, Value, Information Technology, Customer Service, and Equipment & Operations. For 3PL providers, a different set of metrics is used, focusing on Carrier Selection & Negotiation, Order Fulfillment, Transportation & Distribution, Inventory Management, and Logistics Information Systems.

This year, we’ve once again divided 3PL providers into two categories—Transportation Management and Value-Added Warehousing Services—with the expertise of Armstrong & Associates, a leading market analyst firm.

Additionally, we’re thrilled to continue highlighting top North American ports, using criteria such as Ease of Doing Business, Value, Ocean Carrier Network, Intermodal Network, and Equipment & Operations—all factors that are essential to measuring port service success.

The Evaluation Process: A deep dive into service quality

The evaluation itself is a weighted metric. The scores take into account the importance readers attach to each attribute. Each year, readers are first asked to rank the attributes in each category on a five-point scale, with 5 representing the highest value and 1 representing the lowest value.

The PRG research team then uses those attributes’ rankings to create weighted scores in each category. For example, readers have historically placed the single highest value on the On-time Performance attribute—and they’ve done so again in 2025. In fact, the attribute was rated between 4.77 and 4.13 across the various carrier categories. The second highest value this year was also once again placed on Value.

After readers have ranked these key attributes in order of importance, they then grade each provider that they currently use on each of the five core Quest for Quality attributes, rating them on a scale of 1 to 3 (1=poor, 2=average, 3=outstanding).

To produce a weighted score, the research team then multiplies the provider’s average scores for each attribute by the attribute’s ranking. Next, the weighted scores are calculated for all five attributes for a given vendor and added together to create an aggregate number.

Companies score a quality win when their total scores exceed the average total weighted score in their category. But remember, providers must receive a minimum number of reader responses to qualify for a win—at least 5% of the total base for the category.

View the 42nd Annual Quest for Quality Awards!