All my Pack and Ship facilities are ISPM-15 certified facilities where we make export crates. This High Value coffee table was picked up and packed for shipment overseas. But we were asked to ship it to Rhode Island instead. The customer wanted to visually view the table before it left the country. Inspection of high value art and furniture is a common occurrence in our niche (custom pack and ship) The worry I always have in situations like this is we foam wrapped AND Pad wrapped this table completely. In Rhode Island they ripped all of it off to inspect the table so what are they going to use to rewrap? Pad the table? Also this nullifies the “Professional Packers Insurance” coverage to the overseas destination. It stops in RI because they unpacked it there. Of course the pad wrap keeps the table from getting scuffs or rub marks on the surface of the table. I have to always explain to the client once they unpack it our packing coverage stops even if they paid us to pack it to make all the way to Italy, which we did. Everyone have a Freight Day! #PapaFreight #3pl #lsp #logistics #freight #export #crates #packing #shipping

I would bet the clothes off my back that the top 5 3PLs will report higher than expected revenue at EoY. If you’re a 3PL with clauses in your shipper agreement that adjusts for war or act of God you should be ahead, assuming you run freight based on a margin percentage.

Is everyone having as much fun discussing fuel increases as I am? This is something beyond the control of any asset carrier or broker. Yet shipper still believe somehow our industry is benefitting. The USA uses DOE, this process and formula work very well, diesel is $3.69 per gallon we get X per mile, moves to $6.00 per gallon we get X per mile. Canada uses FCA, this is done with a formula and creates a %. Prior to the war in Iran, % was 48%, now it is 91%. This is harder to explain to customers. DOE or FCA was established to offset fuel increases due to wars, act of God, geopolitical challenges. Have had many brokers reaching out, they did all in rates. This is not a practice I agree with, should always be linehaul plus fuel. Pass through fuel as it is the carriers cost not a brokers. Then when fuel moves it is passed through. The biggest benefit, your revenue or margin is not affected. Truly hope we can see resolution sooner than later. Germany we paid $10 per gallon USD to drayage partners this week. EFS from SSLs are $350-$500 per container and expected to climb if they will even continue servicing the region.

The last two years has been very challenging looking at volume and financials for my 3PL when I separate out brokerage, carrier and warehousing from our Government/Military project work. My 3PL primarily relies on commercial accounts in the local P&D, Crating and Pack and Ship services, all of which have been down these past two years. I have certainly seen an uptick in these requests and in business volume in these areas the last two months though. When looking at how we survived the last two years it’s easy to see that’s it has been the long term Government Contracts and Subcontracts that we have. They have played a huge role in filling capacity, retaining employees and maintaining cash flow while the other business has been down. Some of these contracts have been short term (A few months) but a few have been long term (10 years). I’ve been building my 3PL since 2012. The freight markets change going up and down (Any fans of Rollercoasters? lol) The bottom line is if you position yourself as a reliable partner and deliver great freight logistics results you receive and retain business (like long term Government Contracting work) that will keep you going through any kind of market. Keep going my friends and have a great day

Anyone had to deal with AI agents when checking on payment status for invoices? I had to send 5 separate emails to get the answer I needed, so frustrating. Needless to say I’m done working with this Shipper. They were a pain even before AI took over their accounting department lol.