Shippers who split freight across multiple third-party logistics providers to chase lower rates often get the opposite outcome, according to John Conrad, Chief Revenue Officer at Evans Transportation Services. When several 3PLs bid the same lane simultaneously, carriers recognize the competition, delay accepting loads, and extract higher rates — a dynamic Conrad calls "broker poker."

"Those brokers who are going out to the marketplace over and over and over again on the same lane, they're driving the rate up because the carriers get smart and they say, I'm going to wait for a little while because you guys are all bidding on it," Conrad said. "And at the end of the day, I'm going to be able to get a little bit higher rate if I wait."

Why flooding a lane backfires

The mechanics are straightforward. Excess bidders on a single lane signal urgency to carriers. Instead of bidding against each other downward, the brokers effectively bid against themselves upward, as carriers wait out the noise.

"Sometimes what can happen is when you flood the marketplace with too many bidders and too many 3PLs, you can actually do the opposite of what you're intending to do," Conrad said.

There are legitimate cases for using more than one 3PL, he added — but the bar should be a pre-existing, trusted relationship covering a specific segment of the shipper's business, not rate arbitrage. Evans itself retains other 3PLs within its managed transportation solutions when a shipper already has a vetted partner on a given segment, rather than displacing relationships built over years or decades.

Where is the freight market tightening?

Conrad offered a cautious outlook for shippers on the broader market. Even during a brief stretch when fuel prices appeared to be falling, average per-mile rates did not drop alongside them. When fuel rebounded, rates began climbing again.

He pointed to Gulf Coast markets around Houston and Louisiana as a particular pressure point, with load-to-truck ratios reaching "hundreds and hundreds of loads to one truck." An approaching tropical storm could worsen the squeeze further by driving fuel costs and spot rates higher still.

Which mode is most volatile right now?

Open-equipment and heavy-haul freight is the most volatile mode in the current market, outpacing dry van and LTL in unpredictability, Conrad said. Much of that volatility traces to AI data center construction: large equipment orders arrive in batches and absorb available capacity in concentrated bursts.

That demand is unlikely to slow as long as consumers and businesses keep requiring faster data processing — meaning heavy-haul capacity could stay tight even if other modes soften.

What is 'outsourcing done right'?

Evans Transportation, a privately held, family-owned company founded in 1985, serves roughly 300 customers and holds an MC number beginning with 1 — a marker of its status as one of the earliest licensed 3PLs after trucking deregulation.

Conrad described the firm's approach to managed transportation as "outsourcing done right," combining proprietary technology with off-the-shelf tools. Most recently, Evans deployed an agentic AI voice system to handle initial inbound call volume before routing inquiries to live staff — one of the areas where he sees AI genuinely useful, in contrast to applications he considers oversold.

The practical takeaway for shippers managing routing guides and brokerage partners: fewer, deeper 3PL relationships on a lane can cost less than a crowded bidding war. With Gulf Coast ratios stretched and storm season threatening further spot-rate spikes, carriers holding out for better pricing look set to keep the upper hand in tight markets.