Assets
Looking at current and future assets through an LTL trucking lens.
What is an asset?
“An asset is something that has monetary value and can be owned by an individual or business. Assets can be tangible or intangible.”
It’s a term we hear a lot in the trucking industry.
Make no mistake - LTL carriers are my religion. They are who I identify with, will eternally support, and who I believe are the roots of the trucking market.
Assets, though.
To me - at the most basic level - it’s control over a process. It’s a resource that can be plugged into any applicable situation to solve a problem.
It brings with it - power and trust. Physical-ablity and tangibility.
It’s long been a simple equation that carriers have assets and brokers/shippers don’t.
I think we’re at an interesting time however where that is quickly changing.
Information or intellectual property is an asset.
Sentiment is an asset.
Energy is an asset.
Capital is an asset.
Code and media are assets.
Times are changing - and they aren’t going back.
What does this mean?
It means that an asset based carrier with trailers, tractors, and drivers in the seat can absolutely still control their own destiny and make decisions that impact their own bottom line.
As they aways could.
It also means that they don’t control the market and market cycles like they have in the past.
Government deregulation is long past.
Trade assocation influence is going to be the next to fall.
Technology, IP and collaboration are what decentralizes the power in any market - and those who leverage it will do well - those who fight it will die.
Take the shippers out of this equation - they will always be there and have a need.
The real equation involves on-the-ground capacity providers, LSP’s and technology providers.
I believe that a capacity provider can build a flywheel that taps into all of the other afore-mentioned parties above…with the singular goal of having:
Available, high quality capacity for shippers that need to move physical goods - run those goods through their networks - and spit them out the other side on time and intact.
We’ll dig into what this could look like in a future article.
As always - thanks for reading!