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Business-To-Business Marketplaces for Freight Transportation

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Business-To-Business Marketplaces for Freight Transportation Business-to-Business Marketplaces for Freight Transportation By Marc D. Boyle M.B.A., Babson Graduate School of Business (1995) B.A., Middlebury College (1989) Submitted to the Engineering Systems Division in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Logistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology June 2000 @ 2000 Marc D. Boyle All Rights Reserved The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part. Signature of the Author.......................................... Engineering Systems Division / I NN 5, 2000 Certified by.......................................................... ..... ....... ........ Yossi Sheffi Director, Cente or Transportation Studies Thesis Supervisor A A Accepted by...................................... ....... Yossi Sheffi Director, Master of 4ieering in Vogistics Program MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY JUN 0 12000 LIBRARIES Business-to-Business Marketplaces for Freight Transportation By Marc D. Boyle Submitted to the Engineering Systems Division in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Logistics Abstract Business-to-business (B2B) marketplaces bring together buyers and sellers in different industries using the Internet to conduct or facilitate business transactions. Among these new intermediaries or "infomediaries" are several firms that address spot market transactions and long-term contract negotiations for truckload, airfreight, ocean and intermodal shipments. Most of the initial activity in freight transportation has focused on the highly fragmented truckload sector. Currently, none of these firms process enough shipments to constitute critical mass or a self-sustaining business model. Without liquidity, B2B marketplaces that rely solely on an exchange cannot present a viable alternative to existing transportation intermediaries, such as brokers and forwarders, since shippers' orders cannot be frequently matched with carriers' capacity. Channel mix and domain expertise are the critical strategicmobility barriersfor B2B marketplaces. Firms must make strategic decisions early about whether to include or exclude existing intermediaries and also how carriers' direct sales forces may be displaced. The service offering must either reinforce or replace the basic functions of intermediaries. Technology leadership in applications critical to shippers (e.g., shipment consolidation, mode selection and combinatorial bidding) is a proxy for domain expertise and will largely determine a company's ability to differentiate its offerings and form a broad versus narrow line. Shippers will receive the greatest benefit from B2B marketplaces and Internet-based transportation management systems present the best opportunity for value creation. This research examines indirect channels for freight transportation and the specific functions performed by existing intermediaries. Trading models are categorized and four case studies of truckload marketplaces are presented. Frameworks are provided for channel structure and strategic groupings. Thesis Supervisor: Yossi Sheffi Title: Director, MIT Center for Transportation Studies 2 Table of Contents 1 IN TRO D U CTIO N ............................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 M OTIVATION FOR THESIS .................................................................................................................. 6 1.2 M ARKET SIZE....................................................................................................................................6 1.3 FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION INTERMEDIARIES................................................................................. 9 1.3.1 Property Brokers................................................................................................................... 11 1.3.2 Surface Freight Forwarder................................................................................................... 12 1.3.3 Intermodal M arketing Companies .................................................................................... 13 1.3.4 Airfreight Forwarders........................................................................................................... 13 1.3.5 Ocean Freight Forwarders,Non-Vessel-Operating Common Carriers............................... 15 1.3.6 Customs Brokers ................................................................................................................... 16 1 .3 .7 O th e rs ................................................................................................................................... 1 7 1.3.8 Third-PartyLogistics Providers (3PL).............................................................................. 17 1.3.9 FinancialIntermediaries ...................................................................................................... 18 1.4 CHANNEL STRUCTURE .................................................................................................................... 19 1.5 SUM MARY.......................................................................................................................................20 2 BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETPLACES FOR FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION........21 2.1 DEFINITION ..................................................................................................................................... 21 2.1.1 Trading M odels ..................................................................................................................... 21 2.1.2 Reve nue Sources ................................................................................................................... 24 2.1.3 Potential Market Size............................................................................................................ 25 2.2 CATEGORIZING CURRENT B2B PLAYERS IN TRUCKLOAD TRANSPORTATION .............................. 26 2.2.1 Strategic G roup M ap ............................................................................................................ 26 2.2.2 Ca se Studies.......................................................................................................................... 27 DAT Services / Internet Freight Services.................................................................................................... 29 National Transportation Exchange (NTE) ................................................................................................... 30 B u lk N e t.c o rn ................................................................................................................................................... 3 3 T ra n sp lac e ....................................................................................................................................................... 36 2.3 PERSPECTIVES OF INDUSTRY PLAYERS ............................................................................................. 38 2.2.3 Shippers ................................................................................................................................ 39 2.2.4 Carriers................................................................................................................................. 41 2.2.5 Interm ediaries....................................................................................................................... 42 2.3 EMERGING TRENDS ......................................................................................................................... 43 2.3.1 H osted TransportationM anagement Systems.................................................................... 44 2.3.2 M anaging the technology supply chain .............................................................................. 46 3 CO N CLU SIO N .................................................................................................................................. 48 3 3.1 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS ........................................................................................................ 48 Achieving Critical M ass ................................................................................................................................. 48 M anaging Channel Conflict............................................................................................................................ 49 Expanding the scope of the offering ............................................................................................................... 50 3.2 FUTURE RESEARCH .......................................................................................................................... 51 4 List of Figures FIGURE 1-1 US TRANSPORTATION EXPENDITURES (1997).......................................................................... 7 FIGURE 1-2 TRUCKING INDUSTRY STRUCTURE (1997)................................................................................ 8 FIGURE 1-3 ESTIMATES OF INTERNET-BASED FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION SALES......................................... 8 FIGURE 1-4 MODE, INTERMEDIARY AND US REGULATORY AGENCY ........................................................ 10 FIGURE 1-5 INDIRECT CHANNELS FOR US FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION ........................................................ 19 FIGURE 2-1 CLASSIFICATION OF B2B M ODELS ..........................................................................................
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