Transport leaders present APL Logistics with innovation award

Jun 1, 2009: Innovation is at the heart of NOL Group’s business. It’s one of our core values. It’s the secret behind our long line of industry firsts, including LinerTrain, Postpanamax vessels and 53-foot ocean containers. Now, innovation has earned us recognition from the world’s top transportation policymakers.

The International Transport Forum – at a gathering of 50 transport ministers from around the world – last week presented APL Logistics with a special innovation award for its groundbreaking OceanGuaranteed® service. APL Logistics President Jim McAdam received the prize from the new US Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, during a ceremony at the ITF 2009 Forum in Leipzig, Germany on May 28. The ITF event was attended by hundreds of government and industry leaders including NOL Group CEO Ron Widdows.

The honour put an exclamation point on OceanGuaranteed®’s nearly three-year success story. Introduced late in 2006, OceanGuaranteed® is the world’s first day-definite service for Less-Than-Containerload (LCL) shipments from Asia to North America.

“Our aim with OceanGuaranteed® was to bring new thinking to the challenges of global trade,” said Jim at the awards ceremony. “We’re grateful that it has been so well received.”

OceanGuaranteed® is jointly managed by APL Logistics and US-based trucking line Con-Way Freight. The service offers a guaranteed delivery date for cargo shipped from nine Asian ports to any US location or major metropolitan market in Canada. Cargo is shipped on APL vessels to the Port of Los Angeles, then carried by Con-way trucks to final destination.

Created to meet demand for reliable ocean transport of LCL cargo, OceanGuaranteed® has actually created a new market in Transpacific trade. Because of its guaranteed reliability, shippers are turning to the increasingly popular service as an alternative to dependable but costly air freight. OceanGuaranteed® has a 99% on-time performance record.

Cargo volume has grown significantly since the service began. That’s helping the environment since ocean and truck transport - the backbone of the OceanGuaranteed® service – produces much less air pollution than air freight.

Prize jurors at the International Transport Forum said they were impressed by the environmental benefits of OceanGuaranteed®. They also liked the innovative marriage of shipping and trucking lines to produce a service that provides reliability at significantly reduced cost. OceanGuaranteed® rates are up to 75% less than airfreight.

NOL