Prioritize accessibility to primary roads, seasonal resilience plans, inventory visibility (WMS), clear SLAs for receiving and picking, and insured handling. Verify backup carriers, equipment availability, and the 3PL’s experience managing peak-season disruptions.

Seasonal rains and terrain can extend lead times and create capacity fluctuations. Mitigations include strategic buffer stocks, multi-modal routing, scheduled cutoffs, and contingency carriers.

Key cost drivers: storage density, inbound receiving fees, pick-and-pack rates, fuel and access surcharges, and minimum volume commitments. Negotiate transparent rate cards, volume tiers, ramp clauses, and clear KPIs with penalty or rebate structures tied to SLA performance.

Develop a hub-and-spoke model with regional feeder carriers, expand pickup/drop-off points, implement track-and-trace, and align cutoffs with carrier schedules. Integrate returns workflows and local carrier SLAs to maintain customer expectations across rural and urban routes.