PrivateFleets.com

Recently, I spoke with a friend who works at a large third-party logistics (3PL) provider to get his perspective on working with private fleets for backhauls. Most of what he said were things I expected to hear, but several comments were surprising.

The company shall remain anonymous for the time being, but let’s just say that several of the nation’s largest common carriers founded the company and sit on its board today. Recently, the company created a “private fleet utilization enhancement program.” It sounds vague enough to be a political statement, but surprisingly one of the private fleets participating in the program is also one of the 3PL’s top carriers.

The company created three groups of “preferred carriers.” The ranking of carriers depends on factors such as capacity commitments and on-time service. Out of its approximately 1,500 fleet customers, a private fleet, namely Autozone, is ranked in the top 25.

First of all, don’t you find it interesting that a private fleet would have enough capacity to sell the 3PL to be among its largest carriers? Not only do private fleets provide unsurpassed quality to their own companies; they are valuable assets to the U.S. economy in the role of common carriers.

The 3PL I spoke with works extensively with its contract customers (shippers) to find opportunities for backhaul business for its private fleets. It also works with the private fleet’s parent company to manage transportation in any inbound lanes that make sense–on a dedicated asset or brokered load. The company approaches the private fleet as both a shipper customer and carrier customer. 

“Working with private fleets is a painful groundgame of inches. It is not a graceful airgame. A lane here, and a lane there. It is arduous work,” my contact told me.

He went on to say that when thoughtfully developed, “the private fleet advantage is great service, reliable capacity, and living up to commitments. By leveraging this with generally low cost for backhaul capacity, it is highly cost effective and no where near the common carrier headhaul rate.”

I’d be interested to know if private fleets might be uneasy working with a large broker or 3PL to find backhauls when they know that the 3PL is looking for a bigger piece of the pie than just backhaul capacity? We welcome your comments.