Averitt offers new Asia LCL-LTL express service to Memphis

Averitt offers new Asia LCL-LTL express service to Memphis Tennessee-based Averitt Express said Tuesday it has begun offering a new less-than-containerload service from Asia known as Asia-Memphis Express.
   The company said the new service will cut transit times by up to 10 days over than traditional LCL service.
   “With this new service we have completely reengineered the way we are moving cargo,” said Charlie McGee, Averitt’s vice president of international development, in a statement. “We are truly integrating an LCL service with an LTL network. We load containers in Asia and book them all the way to Memphis. After passing through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the containers move immediately to our Memphis service center. In Memphis, we deconsolidate the cargo and blast it through our LTL distribution network directly to our customers.
   “With most traditional LCL service, cargo is consolidated at origin and deconsolidated at the first port of entry, increasing the risk of delay. Under our system, our exclusive relationships with partners in Asia give us the critical mass we need to ship LCL containers on a fixed schedule direct to Memphis. At the port of entry, we don’t stop and hold LCL shipments until we have a full load of cargo to a certain destination. Because we regularly load containers bound for the South via Memphis, we can avoid these delays. Plus, our containers don’t have to wait at the port to clear customs. We can immediately transport them to our CFS Bonded Distribution Center in Memphis, at which we efficiently process the cargo and quickly push it through our robust LTL distribution network.”
   McGee said the streamlined service should be particularly useful for regular LCL shippers.
   “LCL shippers need delivery consistency to keep their supply chain costs down,” he said. “With this consistent service, we can prevent them from having to keep higher safety stock inventory levels or resort to airfreight to recover from random delays on LCL shipments. The market’s expectations for LCL service are far greater than the capabilities of the market to meet those demands.”