ABF rolls out new services into the Dominican Republic

Freight transportation services provider ABF said this week that it is now offering shippers single-contact door delivery for service into the Dominican Republic.

Company officials said that this effort is part of the company’s effort to increase demand for shipping to the Dominican Republic and leveraging the United States-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

According to an ABF statement, CAFTA, eliminates barriers to trade and investment among its seven signatories: Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the United States. The agreement opens new commercial opportunities for U.S. companies and U.S. operations of foreign companies with these Central American and Caribbean countries. CAFTA also enhances those countries’ access to the U.S. markets and establishes common regulatory and environmental standards.

ABF Director of Marketing and Public Relations Russ Aikman told LM that this effort is one example of the company’s global expansion plans.

“Customers now have the option for both LCL (less-than-container load) and FCL (full-container load) service with door delivery,” said Aikman. “ABF uses the best providers in the Caribbean to move the shipment from one of its consolidation points all the way to the customer’s door in the Dominican Republic.  Additionally, freight can be shipped from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. as well. All of this is done on a single freight bill, and with the single source customer service ABF’s customers have come to expect.”

ABF has had an established presence for several years and is a licensed NVOCC (non-vessel operating common carrier) and services more than 250 ports in 130 countries as part of its ABF International service, which is geared for shippers moving international freight on a periodical basis.

And in 2008, the company rolled out its ABF Global Supply Chain Services to meet the demands of an economy that has expanded globally.

“With factories moving from the US to foreign origins like China, it has changed the shipping habits of many customers,” said Aikman. “Historically, customers may have only been shipping a few international shipments a year, whereas in this new global economy they may ship a few thousand containers a year.  It takes a new operating model to meet the demands of the new globally focused customer, and that is why ABF has set forth an aggressive global expansion plan.  It’s not that we’re serving new territories as much it is how we are servicing them.”

Aikman added that ABF has a vast network of service centers that reach 97 percent of the U.S. population directly, noting that ABF moves inbound containers throughout the U.S.  and off-loads them at its warehouses near ports and then transports individual shipments across the U.S to their final destinations. This provides shippers an option to take advantage of ABF’s solutions they’ve already grown accustomed to by bundling their services, he explained, as shippers can get the product from the foreign factory to the U.S. with ABF, but can also have it expedited to the final delivery with ABF TimeKeeper or installed at the customer’s home or business with ABF TurnKey. 

“As shippers look to ABF for innovative, global supply chain solutions, we will continue to expand our global reach and develop new ways to help customers excel in a global economy,” said Roy Slagle, ABF senior vice president of sales and marketing, in a statement. “Customers appreciate the predictability and reliability ABF brings to their global supply chains by providing a boutique of comprehensive, end-to-end, single-source solutions.”