Non-Asset Based Logistics Providers Companies in almost every commercial industry make use of third-party logistics providers to handle their freight distribution needs. There is a lot of variety in the ways in which 3PL providers interface with the companies to which they supply their services. This is in turn because there is a lot of variety in the size of the ‘gap’ in the supply chains of the companies which need 3PL in the first place. Small and medium companies rarely have their own motor freight vehicles, storage trailers, extensive available warehouse space, or other physical assets. In order to acquire adequate trucking and warehousing without breaking the bank, they need to fall back on the economies of scale that 3PL providers can supply. However a lot of companies do not have a close relationship with a single third-party logistics provider and for the purposes of security motor trucking resources and other freight services, they rely on a freight broker or other agent. This is a common approach particularly when the company only requires freight distribution or other logistic services infrequently. If there is a lot of variation in the timing and scale of the company’s need to find trucks or trucking companies, then a freight agent or trucking broker is often the approach that best suits their needs. The rise in demand for expedited delivery and one-time bespoke logistic services has demonstrated that close relationships with particular freight service providers are not always flexible enough. Technological developments in the last decades have meant that even small businesses can have much more complex logistic requirements than was previously possible and as such there is a new demand for the provision of logistics expertise when it comes to freight distribution – with all the usual issues of expedition, reworking, reloading, specialist cross-docking and packing requirements, and freight consolidation. These developments in the logistics industry have given rise to a relatively new model for third-party logistics operations – a model which is sometimes referred to as ‘fourth-party’ logistics or 4PL. Logistics providers which use this model are more accurately referred to as ‘non-asset-based’ logistics providers. These providers stand or fall based solely on their expertise, contacts, and organizational ability. 4PL providers perform all the usual functions of 3PL providers when it comes to booking, routing, auditing, quoting, and indeed everything on the administrative and financial side; however, they don’t employ any truck drivers needed, or warehouse personnel, and they don’t own any physical freight distribution assets of their own – no trucks, no storage trailers, no pallets, and no warehousing. A 4PL operation may consist of nothing more than an office and a lot of accumulated freight industry expertise. They fill a similar role to freight agents and brokers, except with (usually) a significant difference in scale.