APL and Con-way Team Up for New LCL Service

August 14, 2006 by Splatty  
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APL Logistics and Con-way Freight have recently announced they will collaborate on a new LCL service from China to the United States. The new service is described as a port to door guaranteed service from various base ports in China to eleven different zones in the United States. The service will allow customers to book LCL shipments on Eastbound APL vessels to the port of Los Angeles where the product will be turned over to Con-way for delivery to one of eleven zones.

“What we are offering with OceanGuaranteed that is not in the marketplace today is guaranteed reliability that when a shipment is tendered and put into the APL-Con-way system in China, there is a day of delivery assigned to that shipment at that time,” said Joe Deluca, Con-way spokesman. “What that means to the shipper is reliability.”

This story caught my attention because it breaks the typical LCL program mold. Most forwarders bring LCL product into a CFS station near a major port and then depending upon the volume of freight or standard trucking schedule, will make arrangements to transport the product to a forwarders local facility. Once it arrives at the forwarders facility, they will break the shipment down and arrange for final delivery via a local cartage company to the consignee’s door. The above scenario I just mentioned is typically the most cost effective way to move LCL freight, so it will be interesting to see how APL will market this new type of service. If they market it as an expedited ocean offering for customers who don’t want to pay for airfreight but want a faster transit than the typical LCL service, this could be an excellent program.

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