Sedat Onat
- Dec 9, 2023
- 2 min read

4PL – Fourth Party Logistics

4PL – Fourth Party Logistics – What is Fourth Party Logistics?

4PL – Fourth Party Logistics – To better understand Fourth Party Logistics, first read “3PL - Third Party Logistics.

4PL – Fourth Party Logistics – In addition to the scope of 3PL, Fourth Party Logistics manages almost the entire Supply Chain like an external source, while the business is only involved in the control processes at specified points and monitors the processes in general.

4PL can also cooperate with more than one 3PL in some cases. This is especially essential for multidisciplinary and international companies operating on multiple continents, such as IBM, Nestle, Unilever, Samsung and Amazon.

The main reasons why businesses choose 4PL – Fourth Party Logistics Approach;

Focus on the main business line: The desire to work more efficiently by removing logistics processes from the relevant field of the business and focusing only on the main business line.
Delegation of responsibility: 4PL Less responsibility in the business as it dominates almost the entire Supply Chain.
Flexibility: 4PL generally has a more flexible structure than 3PL, allowing faster response to changing economic conditions.

We will cover 5PL in my next article. There we will also explain the differences between 1PL-2PL-3PL-4PL-5PL through a graph.