UPS and U.S. Department of Commerce team up
United Parcel Service Inc. and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Commercial Service Tuesday announced an initiative aimed at increasing exports from U.S.-based small and medium-sized businesses.
With the agreement, Atlanta-based UPS (NYSE: UPS) joins a pool of businesses the Commercial Service can call on to provide services to its clients, said Malcolm Berkley, a Washington, D.C.-based public relations manager for UPS.
“This formalizes an ongoing partnership we have had with the commercial service for quite some time,” Berkley said. “As we go along, we’ll fine-tune it to provide the best service possible to exporters.”
The Commercial Service has more than 250 branches in 78 countries. Its employees provide market research, counseling and matchmaking assistance to businesses interested in exporting goods. It provided service to 69,000 U.S. businesses in 2006, Berkley said.
“Exports are on the rise, and there has never been a better time to trade,” Israel Hernandez, assistant secretary for trade promotion and director general of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, said in a news release. “More than 70 percent of the world’s purchasing power is beyond our borders, and this agreement will make it easier for U.S. businesses to establish and grow their international sales.”
In addition to shipping, UPS can provide financing, customs assistance, third-party logistics services and technology to exporters. UPS offers a proprietary technology, TradeAbility, that assists international shippers in calculating duties.
It also has an application, Quantum View Manage, which identifies every package moving toward a customer’s location and provides an alert if a package is delayed. Quantum View Manage also helps importers clear shipments into the country if they are delayed at the border.
“UPS brings a proven global track record that will enable more U.S. small and medium-sized businesses to access and benefit from our combined export tools and resources,” Hernandez added.
UPS employs about 1,700 in the Memphis area and is the second-largest package shipper at Memphis International Airport after Memphis-based FedEx Corp.
