Nowadays third party logistics (3PL) and Supply Chain companies intent to expand their knowhow and competences in dif-ferent fields and to provide various integrated value-added services to their customers. An inductive analysis of 3PL and supply chain related literature was made, to define possible directions for development of contemporary 3PL and Supply chain companies. The first purpose of this paper is to discover modern trends of 3PL activities through investigation of litera-ture. Second, to classify 3PL activities discussed in scientific literature. Third, to discover areas that request future develop-ment. The paper is based on systematic review and classification of recent abstracts linked to 3PL and supply chain activities that are published in scientific journals and databases. This paper is organized as follows. First part contains quantitative analysis of literature and description of developed directions. Subsequent part contains qualitative overview of nowadays 3PL and supply chain tendencies by each of pre-defined areas. Last part aims at providing conclusions and suggestions for further research. The key findings are as follows. Majority of studies of 3PL and supply chain activities are based on business cases or surveys that do not allow to propose conclusion about industry in general. Main emphasis in contemporary research is done mainly on knowledge-based services. For most of authors it is obvious that core logistics services are tended to be replaced by value-added supply chain services.