Research Report 2026
Gartner named 3PL cost pass throughs as a top driver of rising shipper budgets.
The data your customers are reading — and what it means for your renewal conversations.
3x
3PL practices in top
cost drivers
60%
cutting their
3PL roster
#1 Goal
cut cost,improve efficiency
Your billing practices just showed up in a Gartner report.
Gartner asked shippers why their logistics costs keep rising. Three of the top answers named 3PL cost pass-throughs specifically — technology investment, automation, and risk costs. That scrutiny doesn't stay in a boardroom.
The roster cut is happening.
60% of shippers are cutting providers in the next two years. The average shipper uses 8–9 3PLs today. That number is going down.
The criteria are specific.
Shippers aren't cutting on service coverage. They're cutting on cost proof and quality reliability. Both are measurable.
CFOs are in the room now.
Logistics outsourcing budgets are on the CFO's agenda. The way shippers justify — and cut — spend has changed.
Partnership is the new standard.
Shippers are shifting from transactional to strategic outsourcing. The providers that survive are already operating at that level.
Five things the research tells you.
01
The three pass-throughs shippers named
Specifically which 3PL practices shippers identified — and the percentages behind each line item in the Gartner data.
02
The consolidation criteria in full
The two criteria shippers use to decide who stays on the roster — and what they look like in a renewal conversation.
03
How CFOs are talking about logistics spend
The language shippers are using at the CFO level — and what it means for how you present pricing and value.
04
What a strategic partner looks like now
What shippers say they expect from a strategic logistics partner — not a transactional vendor.
05
Where providers are investing to survive this
The operating model improvements that keep a 3PL on the right side of a consolidation review.
These pass-throughs are exactly what Freehand eliminates.
Logistics AR
Automated invoice generation, dispute management, and collections. Clean, auditable AR data.
80–90%
AR cycle time reduction
Invoice Accuracy
Every outbound invoice validated against contract and shipment data before it reaches the shipper.
93%
first-time match rate
Dispute Management
Autonomous exception resolution with full audit trail. Lower rejection rates at the source.
100%
invoice audit coverage
Cost Intelligence
Real-time visibility into where your cost pass-throughs are — before they surface in a negotiation.
Sub-12mo
payback period