UPS rolls out new service in Europe for time-critical shipments

Earlier this week, UPS announced it rolled out a new service in Europe focused on urgent, time-critical shipments requiring special handling.

Entitled UPS Express Critical, the company said examples of these shipments include things like aircraft parts or surgical tools that are particularly germane to the specific industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and aerospace, which place a high level of importance on speed of delivery.

As for how this service works, UPS explained that a UPS team assesses a shipping request though a 24x7 contact center and then identifies transportation alternatives and implements a delivery plan meeting customer time and cost requirements. Services provided through UPS Express Critical include air, charter, and surface, as well as a personal courier who can carry the shipment by hand from origin to destination on a commercial flight.

UPS Vice President of Global Logistics & Distribution Daniel Gagnon told LM that increasing customer demand drove this new service.

“The opening of Europe gets us closer to being able to offer a connected service on a global level to meet customer demand,” he said.

“Most major market segments UPS serves often require overnight express services. This service appeals to customers when next-day service is not fast enough. Highly specialized services are needed to meet the unique requirements of customers shipping extremely valuable or time-critical. This is the case in growing industries such as life sciences, aerospace and high-value retail. Though UPS Express Critical has successfully addressed that need for customers within the U.S and shipping to and from the U.S., we receive more and more requests for a similar service experience in Europe and other regions.”

As a global leader in time-sensitive shipments with a full suite of global, urgent transportation services, Gagnon said UPS has the unique ability to optimize solutions for nearly every shipment through various offerings, including:

• Customized time-sensitive solutions to meet special transportation requirements;
• Quick turnaround and exceptional service quality from a trusted source;
• Representatives available 24/7/365 to assist with urgent shipments;
• Single point of contact for urgent orders;
• Quote and pickup within minutes of the call to UPS Express Critical; and
• One invoice, The charge will appear on the UPS small package bill 

Prior to this week’s introduction of the UPS Express Critical Service in Europe, Gagnon explained that services were offered on a shipment-by-shipment basis by the UPS forwarding group, whereas now the network of third-party couriers and air carriers will be integrated into the UPS Express Critical system and, in turn, make each solution offering more seamless.

When asked what the competitive advantages of this service are from a UPS perspective, Gagnon cited the company’s experienced industry teams are able to quickly assess a cost effective delivery solution that meets its customers’ specific time and delivery requirements.

“Having this flexibility from a single, trusted source is an advantage,” he said. “Also, our operating platform has the ability to offer regular, automated updates each step of the shipment milestone.  Additionally, UPS Express Critical Europe will have a 24/7/365 contact center which offers a dedicated resource to communicate about each and every time critical shipment.”