Benefits and Limitations of Third-Party Logistics Providers, Water Transportation, and Pipelines
Transportation plays a very important role in today’s business world, and such modes of transportation as water transportation and pipelines (Lamb, Hair, & McDaniel, 2014), as well as the services of third-party logistics (3PLs) providers, have their benefits and limitations that influence the choice that can be made.
The main pros of using 3PLs are:
- Flexibility and scalability (the ability to utilize space, labor, and resources in regards to customers’ needs);
- convenience and competence (the possibility to stay focus on business or other crucial working aspects and learn the opportunities available due to the current technological development); and
- Quality and optimization (a chance to consider the latest adjustments and reduce delivery time, improve services, and maximize organizational profits).
Still, there are certain limitations of 3PL providers that are the impossibility to control all operations directly, the necessity to pay more because convenience and quality offered by other people cannot be cheap, and a chance to lose reputation because of the inabilities to gain control over all transportation details.
The peculiarities of water transport help to understand that this mode of transportation may have the same number of pros and cons, and people should weight all of them to understand if it is convenient for them. The advantages are cheapness, less maintenance cost, the possibility to transport goods of different weight and sizes, numerous foreign trade opportunities, and comfort that can be available to passengers and goods that should be transported.
Still, two main disadvantages play a crucial role because they touch upon speed and the inabilities to avoid risks. Water transportation is slow indeed, and not many people are ready to wait a lot to get the required order. Finally, there is always a threat of sinking and the later inability to find products and use them. It is a high risk that not all users can agree with it.
In addition to the modes of transportation mentioned before, there is always a necessity to transport such products as crude oil, natural gas, petroleum, water, and other types of liquids. Pipeline transportation is the best solution for transportation needs. The users of these services admit that it is usually more convenient, economical, and resourceful to choose this model. In addition to the fact that pipelines are ideal for transportation of liquids and gas, this model has such advantages as cost-effectiveness, low energy consumption, abilities to be underwater, and neglect weather conditions such as rain or storms, and little maintenance.
Many people define this model as the most successful environmentally-friendly transportation decisions even though the construction of pipelines requires the disruption of land. Several challenges have to be taken into consideration. First, it is not flexible in comparison to other transport modes. Second, it is hard to establish security at every point. Finally, it is hard to organize restoration operations as soon as some trouble or breakage takes place. It is very important to involve many experts to make sure that this mode is safe and effective.
In general, 3PL providers, water transport, and pipelines have their own positive and negative aspects. The representatives of the world of business should understand what they can win and lose with different transport modes and make the right decisions regarding their own needs and opportunities.
Reference
Lamb, C.W., Hair, J.F., & McDaniel, C. (2014). MKGT 8: Principles of marketing. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.