UPS to drop Fritz brand
Another venerable name in the transportation industry will disappear on July 1.
United Parcel Service plans to drop the Fritz Cos. name on that date when “all entities that comprise (UPS) Freight Services will begin operating under the UPS Freight Services name,” UPS Chief Financial Officer Scott Davis told a Merrill Lynch transportation conference Thursday. The only exceptions will be in some overseas markets where it’s required to keep using the Fritz name for legal, contractual or regulatory reasons, said spokesman John Flick.
UPS acquired San Francisco-based Fritz, one of the nation’s oldest customs brokers, for $456 million in stock in June of 2001.
Fritz, founded in 1933, ran into difficulties amid a string of acquisitions during the mid-1990s.
FedEx Corp. announced recently that it will drop the Viking Freight and American Freightways names to strengthen its FedEx Freight subsidiary brand.
FedEx is also expected to eliminate Tower Group International from its FedEx Trade Networks unit. FedEx acquired Tower Group two years ago.
Davis also said the integration and transfer of seven smaller brokerage firms along the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico will be completed on July 1. UPS acquired those companies in 2001.
