Logistics costs: who's getting squeezed? Shippers press back on pricing to rein in costs.(Cover Story)

With carriers in command of contracting and capacity in the logistics marketplace, shippers are naming price as their top consideration for an array of logistics transportation decisions, according to surveys released at the latest meeting of top supply chain executives

In a closely watched survey of shippers by the Georgia Institute of Technology and Capgemini, price trumped value-added services for the first time in a decade as the attribute most favored by shippers selecting third-party logistics providers.

"When the budget gets tighter (shippers are) going to have to leverage the dollar more" said Mary Collins Holcomb, a logistics and transportation professor at the University of Tennessee.

Released at the 2005 annual meeting of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals late last month, the 2005 Third-Party Logistics Annual Study was one of several that portrayed logistics planners wrestling with soaring transportation costs and the impact new carrier contracting leverage is having on the bottom line of shippers.

Along with a separate Capgemini survey on "Trends and Issues in Logistics and Transportation," the two reports found logistics managers increasingly turning to 3PLs for basic services to try to restore leverage lost to carriers in an era of tight capacity and a growing economy.

"Last year was the first time everyone expected to spend more on all modes of transportation," said Karl Manrodt, director Southern …