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TMS for 3PLs · 25–200 brokers · 2k–15k loads / month

A TMS for third-party logistics — multi-mode, multi-team, AI-native.

The mid-market 3PL shape — 25 to 200 brokers, 2,000 to 15,000 loads a month, multiple desks (reefer, flatbed, intermodal, dedicated lanes), sticky TMS investment from years of customization. The TMS for 3PLs at this scale has to do two things at once: be a credible system of record on its own, and be a first-class overlay layer when the 3PL already has McLeod, Aljex, Tai, Turvo, or Revenova in place. Keelway does both.

Talk to salesMid-market 3PL case study
Either
Replace or overlay deployment
Standalone TMS or AI on top of existing
Multi-mode
Truckload · LTL · intermodal · drayage
Mode-specific ranking weights
<45d
Mid-market go-live target
Contract to full-floor cutover

The 3PL deployment pattern

Multi-mode

Truckload, LTL, intermodal, drayage on one tenant

Mode-specific ranking weights for dry van, reefer, flatbed, hazmat, LTL (with NMFC class handling), and intermodal drayage (with chassis disclosure parsing). One Keelway tenant handles all of them — the load context selects the right weight set.
Multi-team

Per-desk ranking calibration

Reefer desks, flatbed desks, intermodal desks, and dedicated-lane desks each behave differently. Keelway supports per-team ranking weight overrides so a reefer desk's top-five looks different from a flatbed desk's top-five on a comparable load.
Overlay

Sits on top of McLeod, Aljex, Tai, Turvo, Revenova

3PLs with sticky enterprise TMS investments keep their system of record. Keelway pulls load context from the TMS, triages the inbox, and writes accepted bookings back via native API. Zero floor disruption, no TMS migration required.
Enterprise

SSO, SCIM, audit logs, signed MSA

Identity primitives (SAML SSO, SCIM 2.0, RBAC) and procurement primitives (executable MSA + DPA, 99.9% uptime SLA, named CSM, 24/7 incident channel) for the 3PLs whose security and procurement teams require them. See Keelway Enterprise.

How a typical mid-market 3PL deploys

The reference deployment for an 85-broker 3PL on McLeod is documented in detail in our mid-market case study. The short version: keep McLeod as system of record, layer Keelway on top as the AI overlay, phased rollout across desks over 6-8 weeks, no floor disruption, load volume grew 38% in two quarters with no coordinator hires. The same pattern applies on Aljex, Tai, Turvo, and Revenova-on-Salesforce — see the integration pages for the technical detail.

For multi-brand 3PLs running different TMSs across acquired brokerages — increasingly common in the current rollup cycle — the multi-brand deployment lets a single Keelway tenant span McLeod, Aljex, and Tai simultaneously. That pattern is documented in the enterprise multi-brand case study.

Frequently asked questions

What is a TMS for 3PLs and how is it different from a broker TMS?+

Most 3PLs are freight brokers — they arrange transportation between shippers and carriers without owning trucks. The TMS needs are the same: load entry, carrier records, dispatch, rate confirmations, accounting. The wrinkles for a 3PL specifically: multi-customer revenue split, customer-facing portals (shippers want load visibility), and frequently multi-mode operations (truckload, LTL, intermodal, sometimes drayage and air). A TMS for 3PLs handles all of that; Keelway is positioned at the mid-market 3PL shape — 25-200 brokers, 2,000-15,000 loads / month.

Does Keelway replace an existing 3PL TMS or sit on top?+

Either pattern is supported. For 3PLs with sticky enterprise TMS investment in McLeod, Aljex, Tai, Turvo, or Revenova, Keelway runs as an AI overlay — Gmail-native carrier email triage, FMCSA trust scoring, ranked top-five replies, and write-back to the system of record. For 3PLs ready to consolidate, Keelway TMS replaces the underlying system at $997/month flat with the AI bundled. The reference deployment patterns are documented in the mid-market case study.

What about customer-facing shipper portals?+

Shipper visibility — the ability for a 3PL's customers to log in and see load status, history, and reporting — is on the Keelway roadmap for mid-market 3PL deployments. Today, Keelway's posted-load and accepted-carrier data is API-accessible and exports cleanly to existing customer portals or BI dashboards. For 3PLs running customer portals through their incumbent TMS (McLeod, Aljex, Tai), Keelway as an overlay leaves the portal untouched.

What multi-mode capabilities does Keelway support?+

Truckload (dry van, reefer, flatbed, hazmat) is fully supported with mode-specific ranking weights — see the verticals pages. LTL is supported with NMFC class handling and accessorial parsing. Intermodal is supported with drayage and chassis-disclosure parsing. Air freight is supported through standalone Gmail integration (no native air-feeder mode tooling yet — on the roadmap). Drayage and forwarder-broker hybrids run on Keelway with the Magaya integration.

What 3PL-specific signals does the trust scoring pick up?+

Beyond standard FMCSA authority and insurance, 3PL-scale trust scoring picks up patterns that small brokerages don't see — carriers running multiple identities across shippers, cross-shipper rate consistency, repeat double-broker MCs flagged by other 3PLs in a peer-data feed (opt-in), and chameleon-MC density at the shipper level. Most of this is enterprise-tier functionality. See the enterprise page for the full scope.

3PL, mid-market or enterprise?

Let's model the deployment for your shape.

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Related

Keelway Enterprise →

SSO, SCIM, dedicated tenant, 99.9% SLA, signed MSA — the posture mid-market 3PLs sign on.

Mid-market 3PL on McLeod →

Reference deployment for an 85-broker 3PL keeping McLeod and adding Keelway as overlay.

Keelway on McLeod LoadMaster →

The most-deployed 3PL TMS — technical integration detail.