Colombia Third-party Logistics (3PL) Market Size (2024 - 2029)

Third Party Logistics (3PL) in Colombia Market Analysis

The Colombia third-party logistics (3PL) market is estimated to register a CAGR of greater than 3% during the forecast period (2023-2028).

• Logistics firms involved in the movement, storage, and flow of goods had been directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Like the tendency of freight trips by road, freight volumes transported by air diminished during the pandemic (i.e., March and April 2020) in comparison to the volumes observed in the same months in 2019. Overall, the amount of air cargo decreased in all cities. Bucaramanga, Barranquilla, and Pereira reported minimal movement of air cargo during March 2020, while Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, and Cartagena presented reductions between 40% and 70% in March 2020. Cargo volumes transported by trucks during the mandatory quarantine also exhibited a decrease, mainly explained by lower transport flows of non-essential goods.
• Colombia is home to an exciting domestic economy, focusing on international markets and foreign trade. Open, transparent, and ready-to-trade are the three cornerstones of the Colombian economy. For Colombia's trade worldwide, the EIU estimated that merchandise exports from Colombia amounted to USD 42.7 billion in 2021, a rebound from USD 32.3 billion in 2020. Merchandise imports totaled USD 56.7 billion in 2021, compared with imports of USD 41.2 billion in 2020. This rise in trade adds to the growth of 3PL market. Additionally, Colombias strategic geographical location offers great advantages for logistics services, which lowers costs and reduces the time of deliveries. Colombia is regionally the major focal point for overall logistics activity among the rest of South American countries. The high production of both agricultural products and oil, gas, and petroleum products is expected to drive the logistics activity in these countries. Project logistics grows in the region due to the increasing construction of oil and gas projects and government initiatives to improve the countries' infrastructure.
• The price of Colombia's leading exports, oil and gas saw sharp increases in the first half of 2022. Oil production saw a high of one million barrels per day in 2015 but has declined to about 740,000 barrels a day in 2022. Despite this decline, the energy sector has been an important source of revenue. According to the EIU, the rising price of oil in 2021 increased export values by 52%, or USD 13.3 billion, and represented a third of total exports. According to the Colombia Oil Association (COA), oil and gas investments grew by 51% in 2021, to USD 3.1 billion, of which USD 520 million went to exploration and USD 2.6 billion went to production. COA estimated that investments in the domestic oil and gas sector will grow another 42% in 2022, to USD 4.4 billion, of which USD 1.13 billion will go to new exploratory wells to find natural gas reserves in the Caribbean Sea. Though data has not yet been released. Additionally, regional SMEs, along with companies like Amazon and eBay are propelling e-commerce growth in the region. Road freight transport is the dominant mode of transportation in these countries. The logistics landscape in the region is becoming more competitive, with international players expanding into the region with strategies, such as acquiring local companies.

Third Party Logistics (3PL) in Colombia Industry Segmentation

A 3PL (third-party logistics) provider offers outsourced logistics services, which encompass anything that involves managing one or more facets of procurement and fulfillment activities. 3PL has a broad meaning that applies to any service contract that involves storing or shipping items in the business. A 3PL service may be a single provider, such as transportation or warehouse storage, or it can be a systemwide bundle of services capable of handling supply chain management. 

The Colombia 3PL market has been segmented by Service (Domestic Transportation Management, International Transportation Management, and Value-added Warehousing and Distribution) and End User (Automotive, FMCG, Retail, Fashion and Lifestyle, Technology, Reefer, and Other End Users). The report offers market size and forecast for Colombia 3PL industry in value (USD billion) for all the above segments.