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What are the real risks to their business? So they need to own the shipping containers, planes etc?

• maxerickson 9y ago
  That the competition aren't really dinosaurs. I looked up a company mentioned in the article "Expeditors". It is a logistics service company so pretty close to what Flexport wants to be. It spends ~$500 million a year on dividends and share buybacks, so it has lots of resources to invest in new technology and could then apply that to all of its existing relationships.
• kirykl 9y ago
  The space is actually really crowded and relationships matter more than they should. Flex can’t charge a premium and die without the volume. Freight is a cost center. The absolutely largest buyers will use in house or demand lowest rates, small guys cant afford high rates. Also owning equipment is righ risk low reward.
  • stcredzero 9y ago
    Also owning equipment is high risk low reward. The industry is already at the stage where the cost of financing is a competitive disadvantage. They're on the right track with vertical integration. But they'd need partnerships with manufacturing and finance to make things really work. Do they have those?