TIA Q2 3PL Market Report sees modest shipment gains

The 3PL Market Report Second Quarter 2023, which was issued this week by the Alexandria, Va.-based Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), was mixed, with shipments showing a slight increase and declining revenues.

This report is based on monthly data from more than 50 TIA member companies, focusing on analyzing shifts in broker activity, which it said is largely dominated by the truckload sector. The report was prepared for TIA by FTR Transportation Intelligence.  

In the report, TIA said that truckload (TL) accounted for 76% of broker activity in the second quarter, in line with 75%, for the first quarter, with intermodal next, at 13%, less-than-truckload (LTL), at 9%, and Misc., at 2%.

Total quarterly shipments eked out a 0.8% increase, from the first quarter to the second quarter, and were down 4.2% annually. Total revenue was off 5.6%, from the first quarter to the second quarter, and down 23.1% annually, and invoice amount per shipment saw a 6.4% decline, from the first quarter to the second quarter, and a 19.7% annual decrease. Quarterly gross margin percentage fell 20 basis points, from the first quarter to the second quarter, and was off 90 basis points annually.

Truckload was the only segment to see a gain for shipment volumes, up 1.9% sequentially, and down 1.4% annually. LTL was off 2.8% sequentially and 5.8% annually, with intermodal down 2.4% sequentially and 16.4% annually. Other modes were down 0.2% sequentially and 11.5% annually.

And the average invoice per shipment was off 6.4%, from the first quarter to the second quarter, with truckload, LTL, and intermodal down 8.4%, 1.5%, and 7.1%, respectively.

“We’ve known, based on previous outlooks, that the second quarter was going to be soft,” said Mark Christos, TIA Chair and Chair of the Market Report, in a statement. “Nevertheless, there are enough positive developments, for example, truckload volume was slightly down year over year and gained from Q1 2023, and the surge in automotive manufacturing as well as the resilience of the total economy, is expected to bolster optimism for our members for future quarters.”  

In an interview with LM, Christos said that even though the report’s data points to a tightening market, it was encouraging to see a modest improvement over the first quarter.

“That is a good sign and a good indicator,” he said. “The pandemic had a major impact on our metrics used in the report. Hopefully, going forward, we can get back into a more of a steady glide and ability to kind of predict and have more normal expectations of how things are really behaving versus the chaos we had during the pandemic.”

Addressing the total annual decline in second quarter shipments, Christos explained that shipments were weighed down by intermodal, citing less import activity, coupled with inland moves that would be transported via intermodal.  

Looking out over the remainder of 2023, Christos said TIA’s outlook is optimistic within a type of new normal, in that the continual deceleration in truckload and LTL is likely to slow, as was the case from the first quarter to the second quarter, with a little bit of acceleration starting up.

“I don’t think there is going to be a ‘lights-out acceleration’ but I think that we anticipate that we should see a little bit of improvement,” said Christos. “I would call it kind of more stability versus things keep softening. I think we anticipate modest improvement and a little more stability.”