Analytiqa's latest research, North and South American Logistics 2010, reveals that spending on logistics across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States is set to increase by $106bn through 2012, as the size of outsourced share of this expenditure grows by 32 percent.

Whilst the United States dominates the region's logistics activity, it is consistently outperformed, in terms of growth at least, by the smaller, developing markets of Argentina, Brazil and, to a lesser extent, Mexico.

In addition to sizing logistics markets and evaluating outsourcing rates in each country during the period 2007-2012, Analytiqa's research identifies leading 3PLs in each country, together with the obstacles 3PLs face in growing their markets profitably and, with the help of the logistics professionals it interviewed across the Continent, also highlights the most important industry sectors that 3PLs should be targeting for new business.

While targets for growth by industry sector will be unique to each national market, on a more generic level across country boundaries, for 3PLs looking to win business, flexibility is a "must-have." 3PLs must improve their responses to changes in volumes, locations and deadlines.

This is where the use and application of technology will also be increasingly important. Investment in transport management remains vital. However, 3PLs must also invest in greater customer relationship management, meeting manufacturer and retailer requirements for their service providers to engage with them in a more regular, intelligent fashion, something they fail to do at present.

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