4PL Digital Business Models in Sea Freight Logistics: The Case of FreightHub

Tim Gruchmann, Nadine Pratt, Jan Eiten and Ani Melkonyan
Additional contact information
Tim Gruchmann: Institute of Management and Tourism (IMT), Westcoast University of Applied Sciences, 25746 Heide, Germany
Nadine Pratt: Competence Centre for Sustainable Development, FOM University of Applied Sciences, 45127 Essen, Germany
Jan Eiten: Centre for Logistics and Traffic, University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany
Ani Melkonyan: Centre for Logistics and Traffic, University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany

Logistics, 2020, vol. 4, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: For years, the freight forwarding industry has been facing high levels of global competition. Accelerating this development, new and digital competitors are entering the market, striving to make freight logistics even faster, cheaper, and more predictable. Digitalization processes change traditional logistics businesses, leading to more efficient, flexible, and de-centrally organized logistics services. Sea freight operations, in particular, have the potential to better fulfill customer-specific requirements in competitive and complex environments by integrating digital technologies. Therefore, it is essential to understand how automating informational processes, such as freight brokering, affect business models in the logistics service industry. The present study qualitatively analyzed the case of FreightHub, a fourth-party logistics (4PL) sea freight agency, and compared its business model with traditional third-party logistics (3PL) business models. Applying a digital business model conceptualization, the present paper presents an extended framework for digital sea freight business models. In this line, the study contributes to theory and practice by refining business model research in the maritime transportation context, and providing managerial implications about the opportunities and threats of a digital transition in this industry.

Keywords: digital business model; third-party logistics (3PL); fourth-party logistics (4PL); sea freight logistics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L8 L80 L81 L86 L87 L9 L90 L91 L92 L93 L98 L99 M1 M10 M11 M16 M19 R4 R40 R41 R49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/4/2/10/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/4/2/10/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlogis:v:4:y:2020:i:2:p:10-:d:353900

Access Statistics for this article

Logistics is currently edited by Ms. Mavis Li

More articles in Logistics from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().