UPS service “eases” global shipping

UPS Canada has introduced UPS World Ease, an international shipping option to help businesses accelerate service to their customers in other countries.

The courier says the new service “combines the speed and tracking of express delivery with the efficiency and cost savings of consolidated customs clearance” by allowing customers to ship multiple packages to many destinations in the same country as one consolidated shipment. This allows goods to move directly through customs as a single unit, reducing the need for warehousing, inventory and shipping.

“This means that UPS’s transportation network becomes a sort of ‘in-transit warehouse’ for us, eliminating our added expense of warehousing inventory,” says ergoCentric Seating Systems shipping manager Nelson Fortuna.

Mississauga-based ergoCentric Seating Systems, is a UPS customer that manufactures and markets ergonomic seating products. “Because our shipments clear customs all at once, we can get our systems to international customers within days instead of weeks,” says Fortuna.

UPS World Ease is a contract service that works through the UPS small package network. Customers use UPS Connect software to consolidate relabelled multiple shipments into one consolidated shipment for easier processing and faster customs clearance. Once the shipment clears customs, it’s separated back into smaller shipments for final destination delivery throughout a country by UPS. For European Union (EU) movements, individual shipments destined for multiple countries within the EU are grouped into one consolidated shipment for customs clearance and cleared through a single port of entry. This reduces delivery time, minimizes errors and can reduce the customer’s need to store inventory in a warehouse in the destination country for re-labelling to the final recipient.

The announcement comes on the heels of another integrated UPS freight product that helps companies streamline their international shipping: UPS Trade Direct Cross Border speeds the ground movement of packages and freight being transported between NAFTA markets by consolidating shipments for customs clearance.

UPS World Ease is available in 61 countries in combination with delivery services UPS Worldwide Express(SM), UPS Worldwide Expedited(SM) and UPS Standard services.

“UPS now offers a portfolio of services that integrate the international trade efficiency of consolidated clearance with the speed and final destination delivery of express,” says UPS vice-president of marketing Joe Tavares. “Many companies don’t ship internationally out of fear of complexity, and World Ease is part of the UPS strategy to make shipping across the world as easy as shipping across the street.”

UPS serves more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.