UPS Supply Chain Solutions Tuesday announced enhancements to its customs brokerage service, including tools for better visibility into the status of shipments; alert systems to monitor the status of critical shipments before, during and after they have cleared customs; and greater imaging capabilities for easier document retrieval.
“The advent of more stringent security regulations, increasing documentation requirements and advanced notification about goods before they arrive at international destinations means that customs clearance is much more complex and unpredictable,” said Norm Schenk, who leads brokerage services at the Alpharetta, Ga.-based unit of United Parcel Service Inc., in a statement. “These enhancements are designed to keep goods moving quickly and efficiently across borders, while keeping customers proactively informed about their international shipments in transit.”
Specific enhancements include a new option to Flex Global View that gives UPS customers more information about goods as they cross international borders, so they can keep their own customers better informed; an alert feature that proactively lets customers know when shipments reach defined milestones during the customs clearance process; and an individual line-item status feature that provides improved line-by-line visibility into consolidated customs entries.
UPS Supply Chain Solutions is also adding imaging enhancements that electronically capture and archive trade documents, eliminating the need to physically store the documents and helping customers retrieve documents faster.