Logistics

Forwarding | Warehousing and Distribution

4PL model reemerges as disruptive market dynamics buffet shippers

By Eric Johnson

A trio of external forces— tariffs, automation and crossborder e-commerce— are bringing demand for the fourthparty logistics( 4PL) model back to the fore.

While 4PLs have existed for decades, they’ ve gone in and out of fashion, often due their image as an extraneous layer for shippers wanting more control over their third-party logistics and carrier partners.

In December, technology analyst Gartner released its first“ 4PL Magic Quadrant,” a list of 4PL vendors that grouped players as diverse as shipping line Maersk; third-party logistics( 3PL) giants DHL, DSV, CH Robinson and Kuehne + Nagel; and asset-light 4PL specialists like 4Flow and Arvato.

Resurgent interest in the 4PL model can be largely attributed to the disruptive dynamics facing shippers since the COVID-19 pandemic, heightened by volatile US trade policy, geopolitical strife and the rise of automation.

“ The need for organizations to quickly develop risk-mitigating, resilient and agile logistics networks due to global disruptions is a contributing factor to the growth in demand for 4PLs,” Gartner said in its December report.

Execution vs. orchestration

The 4PL discussion has always been tinged by confusion, in part due to the nonhomogenous nature of companies providing such services, but also because 4PLs are often conflated with managed transportation, lead logistics provider and control towers. Gartner tried to clarify this confusion by specifying that control towers are not the model itself, but rather a tool.

“ Control towers are often referred to as the‘ engines’ that drive the 4PL solution and are an important operational and data capture tool of a 4PL,” the report said.“ 4PLs are leveraging their control towers to increase horizontal supply chain collaboration.”

4PLs are often conflated with terms like managed transportation, lead logistics provider and control towers. Shutterstock. com

Another source of confusion around the model is differentiating between 3PLs providing actual 4PL services and 3PLs providing services that appear to be 4PL services.

Eric Rempel, chief innovation officer at Redwood Logistics, said 3PLs focus on execution, while 4PLs focus on orchestration. Redwood is both a 3PL, through its US freight brokerage, and a 4PL through its system and partner integration platform. Felix Kaemmerer, EVP at 4PL 4Flow, said the main justification for 4PL services is a layer of neutrality that enhances risk management for shippers.

“ Our advice is to separate the transportation, the system and the managed services, to procure them separately so you’ re not reliant and avoid that lock-in effect,” he said.

“ There’ s never been a decline in demand for 4PL services,” he added.“ Most companies use the 3PL model, and as they mature, they evaluate whether it makes sense for them to use a 4PL. What’ s driving the demand is a change in the manufacturing model.

“ Some customers producing maybe in Europe and using a global 3PL, they’ re now changing into new regions, and they don’ t have the transportation network in [ those regions ]. In combination with a pressure not to increase [ headcount ], outsourcing is more appealing.”

The second demand driver is access to technology, Kaemmerer said.“ Implementing a [ transportation management system ] is not rocket science, but it’ s also not their specialty.”

Rempel agreed, saying Redwood has focused on the integration aspect of 4PL to help shippers navigate complicated tech infrastructure, data needs and connectivity to transportation partners.

“ It’ s managed connectivity,” he said.“ A lot of business comes from companies looking to implement a new TMS or global trade product, and most of those fail due to connectivity. It’ s like when you’ re renovating a house, you redo the plumbing to make it more modular and flexible.”

Osi Tagger, CEO of 4PL Unilog, emphasized that the need for shippers to enter new markets to support new suppliers or customers is a key driver of business for 4PLs.

“ If a company wants to grow outside its borders, it needs partners,” she said.“ If it’ s global, you can go with a global 3PL, but then you’ re a small customer for them. Or if you do it yourself, you manage it from a distance with a bunch of partners, but it’ s not in your toolset to do that.”

Tagger said common characteristics for customers are companies growing globally, below $ 2 billion in revenue and dealing with market uncertainty.

Kaemmerer said two broad 4PL models exist in the market: one in which a 4PL provides and operates a TMS as the backbone of its offering, and the other in which the shippers own the TMS and want the 4PL to operate it in an outsourced model.

He said 4PLs have evolved into supply chain orchestration providers, where a shipper needs to bridge the gap between supply chain planning solutions and the“ execution layer.”

“ They have a TMS, a warehouse management system, an order management system, so they have a perfect planning world,” Kaemmerer said.“ But when a disruption happens, they struggle to account for that in the execution level.”

email: eric. johnson @ spglobal. com

42 Journal of Commerce | March 2, 2026 www. joc. com