UPS Acquires Trans-Border Customs Services

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Oct. 21, 1999 — UPS today announced plans to acquire Trans-Border Customs Services, Inc., a leading provider of full-range brokerage services specializing in Canada-to-U.S. trade. The agreement expands UPS’s services along the northern border, allowing it to provide customs clearance for all cross-border shipments, regardless of carrier or mode of transportation. Since 1994, UPS has provided full service brokerage for all northbound shipments into Canada.

Headquartered in Champlain, New York, Trans-Border operates more than 25 offices stretching from Michigan to the Eastern seaboard. In addition to handling the customs documentation and duties required to transport deliveries across the border, the company also offers warehousing and logistics solutions. Trans-border will now become part of UPS Customhouse Brokerage, one of the five largest customs brokers in the world, operating in 15 U.S. cities and 31 countries worldwide.

“We are proud to be associated with a company that brings experience, a strong customer base and a variety of services to the table,” said Phil Hughes, vice president of UPS Customhouse Brokerage. “This makes UPS a one-stop-shop for the U.S.-Canada trade community.”

The Trans-Border acquisition broadens UPS’s geographic scope, enhances its portfolio of services and provides UPS the additional resources needed to expedite cross-border shipments. UPS’s new, full service offerings allow it to build on its established small shipment business, and expand to accommodate large truck, air, rail and ocean freight. Both Canadian and U.S. companies can now concentrate on their core businesses and turn to UPS for complete shipping solutions.

“Our agreement with Trans-Border shows UPS’s commitment to enabling global commerce,” said UPS Senior Vice President Tom Weidemeyer. “We are able to seamlessly move a complete range of products, manage the customs process and even handle logistics for any company engaged in trade across the Canadian border.”

According to the United States Department of Commerce, trade between the United States and Canada runs more than $1 billion a day. Cross-border trade is valued at more than $205 billion through July 1999, and the figure is expected to double by the end of the year.

“This is a win-win for all involved,” said Arthur Spiegel, Trans-Border’s president and CEO. “With UPS’s 92-year history of success in the transportation industry, we are proud that they have chosen us as the base of this expansion.”

UPS maintains the largest in-house customs brokerage operation in the express industry, with 2,800 employees worldwide. UPS Customhouse Brokerage was established in 1985 to support UPS’s global transportation network.

UPS is the world’s largest express carrier and package delivery company, serving more than 200 countries and territories around the world. UPS was chosen in a recent Fortune magazine survey as “The World’s Most Admired Company” in the mail, package and freight industry. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., the company resides on the Web at http://www.ups.com.