Over the last few years, the combined forces of rising energy, equipment and commodity prices have created a strain on transportation budgets. Simply put, the costs of acquiring, fueling and operating a fleet continues to rise. Logistics managers face competing pressures to reduce internal costs, without sacrificing service levels required by value-conscious customers.
Not surprisingly, in-house fleets are under significant pressure to justify their effectiveness vs. available alternatives. Options generally include the increased use of common carriers or conversion from a private fleet to a dedicated contract carriage arrangement with a logistics provider.
Shippers in service-sensitive applications tend to view private and dedicated fleets as the most practical options to deliver the operational performance required to be competitive in their particular industry.
So what are the main things they need to consider?
