UPS expands expedited Ocean Freight service throughout Asia

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On the heels of its rollout in Japan, UPS announced the expansion of its UPS Preferred LCL (less-than-container-load) Ocean Freight service to 10 additional Asian ports. UPS says the service provides up to 40 percent faster port-to-door delivery to the United States for LCL shipments while still delivering the economic advantages of ocean freight.

UPS has begun offering the Preferred LCL service to customers shipping to the United States from the Chinese ports of Shanghai, Shenzhen, Ningbo and Xiamen. The service will expand in March to origins in Busan, South Korea and Taipei, and in April to Bangkok, Thailand; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Singapore and Hong Kong.

“Amid a recovering economy, importers are seeking faster ways to get products to market while at the same time balancing transportation costs,” says Jimmy Crabbe, vice president of ocean freight services at UPS. “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.”

UPS says the new Preferred LCL Ocean Freight service potentially can cut a typical 3- to 4-week ocean transit time nearly in half. After arriving at a West coast port, Preferred LCL ocean shipments are moved through an expedited UPS North American ground network utilized for air freight shipments. UPS says the service is suited for customers in the high-tech/electronics, healthcare, retail and automotive industries, which also benefit from additional features including simplified per-kilo pricing, streamlined invoicing and day-definite delivery commitments.