I spent most of this week in Orlando at our “Beyond the Perfect Order Metric” seminar, which went very well. A big ‘Thank You’ to all of the speakers, attendees, and sponsors for making it a success. Steve Banker and I will share our takeaways from the seminar in the days ahead.

Since we were busy with the seminar, it was a bit difficult keeping up with the news. Fortunately, it was a relatively quiet week. Here’s what caught our attention, including a couple of items that we missed last week:

The Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI), which measures month-to-month changes in freight shipments in ton-miles and includes data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight, increased 0.4 percent in December 2010 compared to December 2009. This was the first positive December-to-December increase since 2006-2007. However, as the press release highlights, the index remains below the level of every other December since 2001.

There are many ways to read this data, and too many factors involved to make historical comparisons. My key takeaway, however, is that transportation activity is trending in a positive direction, and this is being reflected in the financial results of 3PL and transportation companies. CH Robinson, for example, reported a 16.3 percent increase in net transportation revenues in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared to Q4 2009, and the positive momentum continues. Here’s what John P. Wiehoff, chairman and chief executive officer of C.H. Robinson, said last week in the company’s financial press release:

“There is still a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace. While supply and demand variables continue to be volatile in most of our services, we have much better net revenue growth momentum going into 2011 than we had the last few years. In January 2011, compared to January 2010, we have achieved consolidated net revenue growth, per business day, in the mid-teens. Our North American truckload volumes increased approximately seven percent in January. A lot could change in marketplace demand and capacity availability as the year progresses, but we are pleased with our early results so far this year.”

One of my predictions for 2011 was that more shippers will consider software-as-a-service TMS coupled with managed services (for more analysis on this trend, see “Time-to-Value: Developing a SaaS Equivalent for 3PLs”). Simply put, as shippers evaluate their transportation management strategies, they now have another option to consider in addition to implementing a TMS either in-house or as a service, upgrading or replacing their current TMS, or outsourcing everything to a 3PL. Based on last week’s announcement by Echo Global Logistics, the company is looking to capitalize on this opportunity. Here is an excerpt from the press release:

FlexTMS is a software-as-a-service TMS with integrated managed services. This “a-la-carte” product provides shippers with a customized, cost effective solution for their logistics needs. It offers clients a standard solution which includes routing guide management, automated load entry, tendering and acceptance, load visibility with customized reporting and analytics complemented by industry experts to assist with freight management.

I haven’t been briefed by Echo on this offering, so I don’t have any additional insights to provide. But the company joins CH Robinson, CTSi, LeanLogistics, Transplace, and a few others in offering a “SaaS TMS + Managed Services” solution. And if CH Robinson’s results are any indication (27.8 percent increase in “Other Logistics Services” net revenues in 2010, which includes its TMC operations), this is a promising growth area for providers.

Finally, if you’re looking for a new song to loop in your head as we head into the weekend, check out “MoneyGrabber” by Fitz and the Tantrums. I saw the video last night on my flight back from Orlando, and I woke up this morning humming the song. It has a great throwback sound that makes me want to pull out that old-school suit from the closet and go dancing this weekend. I better go shine my shoes, just in case.

(Note: CH Robinson, Descartes, LeanLogistics, and Transplace are ARC clients).

Be Sociable, Share!