What is the difference between 3PL, 4PL and 5PL providers?

A third-party logistics provider (abbreviated 3PL) is a firm that provides outsourced or

'third party' logistics services to companies for part or sometimes all of their supply chain
management function. Fourth party logistics is an integrator that assembles the resources,
capabilities, and technology of its own organisation and other organisations to design,
build and run comprehensive supply chain solutions. Since the advent of the 4PL service,
the international logistics industry has been researching on the development of the fifth-
party logistics service i.e. the realisation of full-scale operation of e-procurement. A key
function of the 5PL is to aggregate the demands of the 3PL into a bulky volume for
negotiating more favourable rates with airlines and shipping companies regardless of
which generation of logistics solution belongs to all.