Third-Party Logistics Provider Selection Criteria for Humanitarian Logistics in Natural Disasters

Humanitarian logistics play an essential role in effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian relief operations. Good collaborations between logisticians and other HO can determine a well performed relief operation. Hence, with the concerns of cost, service quality, and capability, seeking for the right logistics partners with solid expertise is increasingly important. However, at present, because limited numbers of logistics organisations have the qualification and experience to be a third-party logistics (3PL) provider for disaster relief, there are limited literatures that related to humanitarian 3PL selection. Therefore, this research aims at pointing out the potential 3PL selection criteria for those HOs. In this dissertation, case study and context analysis of the previous humanitarian aid report and experience in Haiti earthquake are adopted. The qualitative analysis shows that warehouse pre-positioning, local knowledge, transport capacity, fleet management, tracking and tracing technology, and ability of last-mile delivery are the major potential selection criteria for evaluating the qualification of a 3PL provider for humanitarian missions. HSC network design and coordination, local knowledge, and transport capability are particularly important in a long-term post-disaster recovery or NGO’s point of views