Logistics service provider

A company carrying out logistics activities on behalf of a manufacturer or a retailer. Depending on the complexity and the type of value-added operations carried out, several categories emerge. Classic logistics providers carry out physical logistics operations, and their management system is limited to monitoring them on the client company's behalf. Value-added logistics providers add to that offer a number of services ranging from complex handling operations (co-manufacturing, co-packing) to administrative and information management. Logistics service integrators are characterised by having almost no physical resources of their own; their speciality is integrating the services of various subcontractors and ensuring their coherence and management by controlling the associated information flows. The first two categories are frequently grouped under the term Third Party Logistics (3PL). The third corresponds to Accenture's registered term Fourth Party Logistics (4PL). Finally, though it remains rare and very close to 4PL, the name Fifth Party Logistics (5PL) is given to providers who design, organise and deliver logistics solutions on a principal's behalf using the appropriate technologies.