The objective of this thesis was to research the trend of 3PL usage for international shipments. The focus was to investigate whether there was an increase in 3PL usage after 9/11, and was the increase due to the events of 9/11. A survey consisting of a cover letter, questionnaire, and a postage paid return envelope was mailed to over 1200 various manufacturing firms in the US that conduct some type of cross border activity. There was a 7.8% respondent return rate. Analysis was conducted using SAS, SPSS, and Excel statistics software.; Manufacturing firm's operation strategies was investigated over a 10-year period, from before 1994---Present. With the removal of trade tariffs, more firms were conducting international business and thus the use of 3PL providers increased. It was hypothesized that the post 9/11 security constraints was a factor in the increase in 3PL use. However, this was not the case. In fact 3PL use increased post 9/11 for domestic shipments and this could be due to the increase in fuel and labor cost. While the recent government security measures do affect the flow of goods, these regulations were only inhibitors temporarily. Further research in 3PL usage by taking other operations factors into consideration needs to be examined.
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