Category: UPS News

Given the surge in consumer demand over the past year, and the resulting pressure on carriers to deliver product in a timely manner, one might be excused for thinking that the old notion of a “peak season” is defunct.

What does “peak” mean when congested ports, a severe shortage of trucks and overflowing warehouses become the status quo? For a big third-party logistics provider like Coyote Logistics, there’s no let-up.

Coyote is doubly challenged to live up to customer expectations because of its commercial relationship with United Parcel Service, one of the dominant players on the front line of the e-commerce boom. It provides UPS with real-time communications and shipment visibility, by interacting directly with UPS drivers and employees as well as physically staffing most of the parcel giant’s nationwide hubs. “That’s a lot of e-mail communication, and a ton of organization,” says Emily Lockhart, Coyote’s strategic planning manager. Business has exploded over the past year and a half, she adds, due to a massive increase in the number of people shopping from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Waymo and UPS are expanding their nearly two-year-old partnership to include deliveries made using the Alphabet company’s fleet of autonomous Class 8 trucks. The companies had previously only conducted local deliveries using Waymo’s self-driving minivans; now, they will work together on longer-distance freight hauling.

The deliveries will take place in Texas, where Waymo is building a nine-acre hub for its autonomous semi-trailer trucks. Starting now and lasting until the end of the year, Waymo and UPS will collaborate on freight hauling between facilities in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. The companies will gather data during the trial process, with an eye on safety and efficiency in particular.

Cold Chain Packaging CoE in Louisville, KY is the company’s first U.S.-based logistics facility to offer reusable cold chain packaging options for customers.

UPS Healthcare announced a new set of facilities and continued global expansion designed to bring broader capabilities to global healthcare logistics customers.

Its newest cold chain and packaging center in Louisville, KY, is located on the UPS Healthcare campus near the Worldport global air hub. Combined with ongoing expansion throughout Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, UPS Healthcare continues to build comprehensive and sophisticated healthcare logistics capabilities.

The new Louisville cold chain facility is part of an ongoing strategy to expand UPS Healthcare’s global footprint. The expansions bring increased flexibility and efficiency to customers, as well as cold chain capabilities. This newest facility, named the ‘Cold Chain Packaging Center of Excellence,’ is the company’s first U.S.-based logistics facility to offer reusable cold chain packaging options for customers, utilizing the entire life cycle of temperature-controlled packages and contributing to a circular economy.

If you’re like most consumers, you probably don’t visualize that gaming console or gym equipment you purchased last night on your cell phone as traveling on a Union Pacific (UP) train en route to your porch.

But you should, especially if you chose “ground” shipment.

UP, and the nation’s entire rail network, play an integral role in transporting e-commerce boxes and packages, especially over long hauls when customers choose ground over an expedited delivery service, said Bonnie Michael, a Vice President for Transportation with UPS, the world’s largest delivery company.

UPS moves an estimated 6.5% of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) each day and is one of UP’s largest rail customers.