Logistics professionals need help in navigating ‘chess board’ of issues, says Tucker

Battle-tested logisticians need help to cope with growing freight levels as the nation rebuilds its infrastructure amid an economic boom, one of America’s top third-party professionals told Congress last week.

“Today, 60 years later (after the creation of the Interstate Highway System), we see America building again,” Jeff Tucker, third-generation owner and CEO of Tucker Co. Worldwide, Haddonfield, N.J., and former chairman of the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), told Congress, a House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee hearing, entitled “The State of Transportation.”

A top logistics professional with 33 years’ experience in the industry, Tucker told said that 3PLs control $234 billion in freight, about one in four of all freight dollars spent in this country. He shared insights with Congress on the savvy relationship among logistics, infrastructure and the overall economic growth of the nation.

“Logistics companies view infrastructure as the chess board,” Tucker told Congress. “We are adept at strategically helping our customers and our carriers make the best moves to help their businesses thrive.”

The word ‘logistics’ encompasses transportation, warehousing, distribution and inventory management and is the foundation of every supply chain, Tucker explained.

“When done well, it involves the seamless coordination and integration of many transactions to ensure the timely and cost-effective movement of goods from the point of origin to the end consumer,” he said.

Tucker said freight brokers stand at the center of the supply chain. “

“We routinely solve the most difficult challenges. We facilitate and arrange the efficient and economical movement of goods by working with tens of thousands of shippers and carriers to help arrange the movement of freight by truck, rail, air and ocean carriers,” he said before adding: “Increasingly, we are the parties with the most significant investment in freight and logistics technology.”

Recalling the dark days of the Covid lockdowns of 2022-23, Tucker said supply chains may have bent, but they never broke.

“There was never a day—ever—where we were not able to locate a truck to move a shipment,” he said. “It may have cost a lot more to lure a carrier away from steady business, or to send an empty truck hundreds of miles to pick up a critical shipment. But we moved it.”

Today, there are more than twice as many trucking companies as a decade ago. The nation added over 1 million new additional for-hire drivers over that same time.

“I encourage you to think differently about there being a driver shortage. There is not a driver shortage in America. I have been reporting data on this for 13 years. However, if you are a large carrier, you have an awful driver shortage because technology allows smaller carriers to thrive and has encouraged American entrepreneurship,” Tucker said.

The largest trucking fleets today represent the smallest market percentage in drivers and tractors than at any time since 2011, Tucker said. Overall, however, he said the trucking industry is thriving.

With the U.S. economy intrinsically linked with the broader global marketplace, worldwide supply chains can have significant impacts.

“As we saw during the pandemic, the role of logistics in both the United States and internationally remains pivotal to the broader American economic landscape,” Tucker said. “From the standpoint of our (2,000 TIA) members, the disruptions experienced in the supply chain due to the COVID-19 pandemic are improving, yet several lingering challenges persist.”

Among those challenges are:

• individual states undoing the seamless interstate commerce system by attacking small carriers and owner operators with regulations ostensibly geared toward clean air, but are overreaching and overbroad, placing the fundamental strength of our supply chain—our diverse and defragmented market—in grave jeopardy;
• limitations in truck capacity within specific sectors such as liquid bulk and hazardous bulk shipments;
• shortages of shipping containers; and
• inflationary pressures are driving up the cost of many freight components and reducing consumption of goods, which reduces freight volumes.

Tucker says he also remains “concerned” about national security as it relates to the supply chain, specifically becoming overly dependent upon China in certain products.

Also, individual state regulations if left unchecked by Congress, will slow down freight movements and harm American families, he said.

“Regulations that consolidate the industry may appeal to special interests, but these efforts make it easier for our enemies to disable our trucking industry,” Tucker said.

Tucker claimed “every fortune 500 company” uses the services of at least one freight forwarder and one broker, and often they use many brokers to handle their freight transportation allocation.

“Arranging the freight is only the tip of the iceberg, and the easiest work we do,” he said. “We provide critical data to help companies manage their businesses more effectively. We provide technological support and innovative solutions to strategic and tactical problems, and we help manage aspects of their business relationships, identifying waste and opportunity for savings and efficiencies.”

Tucker warned of regulatory overreach by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and said the nation’s transportation efficiency was at stake.

“FMCSAs regulatory mission is safety and reducing crashes, injuries and fatalities involving large trucks and buses,” he said. “Yet they persistently avoid that responsibility every minute that they focus on commercial interests between private entities. FMCSA must be held accountable to focus exclusively on safety matters and stay out of regulating agreements between companies.”

Looking to the future, he said the freight industry is showing signs of life after weak performance that began in mid-2022.

“However, freight volumes and the possibility there may still be overcapacity in the trucking industry paint an uncertain view of 2024,” Tucker predicted. “If the market is in equilibrium, we feel a little more positive, as pricing is level and predictable. We watch consumer spending as a leading indicator for the freight economy. And stronger than expected jobs data provides some optimism.”

The 3PL (third-party logistics) marketplace is “resilient, experiencing unprecedented strength,” Tucker said. The broker freight marketplace expanded by over 30% from 2020 to 2022.

Looking ahead, projections indicate a substantial uptick in the role of brokers, with estimates suggesting that by 2045, brokers will handle nearly 45% of the freight in the supply chain—a significant increase from the current approximate share of 30%.

Logistics companies have never been more important to the economy than they are today, Tucker said.

“Trucking fleets are becoming smaller and more nimble and more specialized, catering to the specific needs of our manufacturers and importers,” he explained.  Meanwhile, manufacturers are becoming lean, and efficient, and they wish to deal with fewer suppliers—thus the enormous and ever-growing reliance on logistics companies to support their operations.

“The number of brokers continues to grow, offering shippers and carriers more choices and a much wider range of partners and specialties, catering better to their needs,” Tucker concluded.