UPS expands expedited trans-Pacific LCL service
UPS is expanding its Preferred Less-than-Container Load (LCL) ocean freight service linking up ports in Asia with its United States ground network. Launched last September in Japan, the service promises to provide up to 40% faster port-to-door delivery to the US West Coast for LCL shipments, while still benefiting from the lower costs of ocean freight.
UPS said it can potentially see a typical three-to-four week ocean transit time cut nearly in half, with journey times of 11 to 18 days seen from Japanese ports.
Once shipments have reached a US port, the freight is moved through the same ground network used for air freight shipments, which UPS said meant faster transit and day-definite delivery to various US destination points, cutting eight-to16 days off standard services to East Coast destinations.
UPS said it has now extended the Preferred LCL Ocean Freight service to the Chinese ports of Shanghai, Shenzhen, Ningbo and Xiamen.
Next month, the service will expand to Busan in South Korea, and to Taipei, while in April the service will expand to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City.
Jimmy Crabbe, vice president of ocean freight services at UPS, said importers were seeking faster ways to get products to the US amid the recovering economy.
He said: “With our Preferred LCL ocean service, we are giving customers more flexibility by offering another cost and speed option when considering air freight or ocean freight transportation.”
Along with a faster service, UPS is touting the full visibility that shipments have with its Preferred LCL service, through its Quantum View Manage system. Items can be tracked in a way “not typically available” for ocean shipments, UPS said, with data captured by handheld scanners during transit.
The service also offers simplified weight-based pricing and streamlined invoicing, UPS said.
UPS also offers a standard LCL service supported with tracking technology, but said its Preferred LCL service was likely to be “ideal” for customers in the high tech sector, healthcare, retail and automotive industries.
