4PL Digital Business Models in Sea Freight Logistics: The Case of FreightHub

Abstract

For years, the freight forwarding industry has been facing high levels of global competition. Accelerating this development, new and digital competitors are entering the market, striving to make freight logistics even faster, cheaper, and more predictable. Digitalization processes change traditional logistics businesses, leading to more efficient, flexible, and de-centrally organized logistics services. Sea freight operations, in particular, have the potential to better fulfill customer-specific requirements in competitive and complex environments by integrating digital technologies. Therefore, it is essential to understand how automating informational processes, such as freight brokering, affect business models in the logistics service industry. The present study qualitatively analyzed the case of FreightHub, a fourth-party logistics (4PL) sea freight agency, and compared its business model with traditional third-party logistics (3PL) business models. Applying a digital business model conceptualization, the present paper presents an extended framework for digital sea freight business models. In this line, the study contributes to theory and practice by refining business model research in the maritime transportation context, and providing managerial implications about the opportunities and threats of a digital transition in this industry.

Why Collaborate in a Physical Internet Network?—Motives and Success Factors

“…In the long term, new servitization models may appear (e.g., Gruchmann et al 2020) that are based on the fact that transport users need the functionality of assets rather than the assets themselves (Neely 2008). This implies that it is not the transport resources (e.g., pallet space on a specific truck) that is sold, but that instead a specific service is offered (e.g., instant transportation service from A to B).…”

Evaluating Platform Openness in Logistics based on a Taxonomic Analysis

“…Simultaneously, specialized start-ups called "Logistics Tech" combining the knowledge of traditional logistics and digital platform businesses have begun to disrupt the logistics sector. The new players offer logistics and additional services via digital platforms that match supply and demand in different branches to increase resource efficiency [7,8].…”

Dimensions of Digital B2B Platforms in Logistics – A White Spot Analysis

“…Moreover, B2B platforms in logistics are used in order to allocate resources effectively and provide additional services for customers like status monitoring of shipped goods and services linked with estimated time of arrival. Moreover, freight exchanges and matching of drivers or unused storage are depicted on platforms [11]. However, those platforms described and assessed are mostly so-called transaction platforms facilitating transactions and the exchange of information, goods and services.…”

“…Consequently, the literature focuses on ecommerce and the resulting impact on logistics [12][13][14][15] or simple transaction platforms and the transformation of the market with respect to e.g. fourth-party logistics (hereafter 4PL) service providers [11,16,17]. Few papers have partially addressed specific characteristics and challenges of B2B platforms in logistics such as [9], [17] and [18].…”