3PL Perspectives
PRESIDENT & CEO
TRANSPORTATION INTERMEDIARIES ASSOCIATION
HAPPY NEW YEAR, TIA Members! 2022 is filled with promise and hope—both of which have been in short supply over the last two years. After the year you all had, where the supply chain has never felt more constrained, there is hope that the links of the supply chain will normalize. And while freight volumes may remain larger than normal, the headwinds you have felt will feel less “gusty.” After the year you all had, with 2021 magnifying and emphasizing the critical role of the 3PL and broker in a challenged economy, there is promise in the outsized need for 3PLs and brokers, and an ever-increasing reliance on our ability to make freight move efficiently.
Many of you may make New Year’s resolutions—if you have any New Year’s resolutions about your businesses you would like to share, I would love to see them—and we can include the best ones in our Logistics Weekly newsletter. I thought I would take this opportunity to make a few TIA New Year’s Resolutions for 2022. So here they are, in no particular order:
- Continue our push to have TIA and TIA Members considered, to both the media and to Capitol Hill, THE thought leaders on the supply chain, and critical to any and all suggested solutions.
- Support TIA’s membership team on growing the member base—we are now at 1,800+ for the first time ever in TIA history; let’s keep up the momentum as this industry grows.
- Through surveys and data analysis, home in on the activities and engagement that our members appreciate the most, and their reasons for membership—this is your organization, and you are in the driver’s seat!
- Launch the Regional Meetings Series to TIA Members; these meetings provide networking opportunities with other TIA Members in the region and will focus on those issues and concerns that matter most to the TIA Members in the region.
- Have a huge and successful in-person Capital Ideas Conference & Exhibition April 6-9 in San Diego! After two years apart, it is past time to come back together.
- Grow our “hands-on” CTB, Small Broker Coaching and Leadership Academy experiences for our “member-students,” as engaged and educated members are future leaders in the 3PL and brokerage Industry.
- Work with FMCSA and guide their approach to their study on dispatch services that may illegally broker freight. Thanks to our Government Affairs team, the infrastructure bill or “BIF” included a requirement for the FMCSA to issue guidance on when a dispatch agent is a bona fide agent and when it is illegally brokering freight.
- Start developing best practices for our members use of technology. The Technology Committee is reinvigorated under Ramona Hood (FedEx Supply Chain Transportation Management) and Tom Curee’s (Kingsgate Logistics) leadership, and under their thoughtful guidance, we will develop our approaches to automation, cyber threats, and future innovation.
- Our TIA HQ is moving next year—still in Alexandria, VA—so we are taking this opportunity to do a re-branding for the first time in years. Stay tuned for more on this.
Not too much to do in 2022, huh? We are excited about all that is yet to come, and as always, if you have any thoughts or ideas you want to share on any topic, please email me at [email protected].
Here’s to an action-packed 2022!
