eyefortransport 3PL Summit was worth the trip

Last week, I told you I was heading to Atlanta soon for the eyefortransport 3PL Summit. Well, I am back now and I can tell you this: it was worth the trip.

I headed down to Atlanta curious about a lot of things in the sectors we cover here at LM, and while not all of my questions got answered, many were. Of course, nobody could tell me what the economy would look like in 12 months, let alone three-to-six for that matter. But, really, does anyone know? If you do, please call me….now!

In all seriousness, though, I got an opportunity to see and participate in some terrific sessions with some of the leading 3PLs and savvy shippers in the business. They touched upon the usual staples like collaboration and sustainability, to name a few. But they also talked about things like strategy and operational focus as we continue our slow crawl out of the great recession.

Another thing I like—and quite honestly—found quite refreshing was that there was some honesty from attendees when it came to truly assessing the economy and the subsequent pace of the recovery.

At past events, I have been told demand is “great” and things were “really picking up,” but all I could think at times was who are these guys’ customers with all this great demand when the economic numbers out there (especially lately) tell a much different story.

Nobody likes to tell an editor, business conditions are bad. I get that. But it was nice to see things a bit more measured this time around all the same.

Getting back so late in the week from this trip made it a bit of a challenge to truly report it, but I expect to file several stories based on sessions and interviews over the next couple of weeks.

These stories will cover a slew of familiar topics like capacity, technology, and the economy and more so please keep and eye out for them and, as always, thanks for reading LM.