DCL & Vanguard Launch New Services at Intermodal South America 2001
5.10.01

Carson, California USA—At the Intermodal South America Expo 2001 in Brazil, Direct Container Line and Vanguard Logistics Services do Brasil Ltda. announced new direct consolidation services from Miami to Manaus, Atlanta to Santos, and Santos to South Africa. Vanguard also announced that they have added a new Global Accounts Department to handle increasing demand for global sourcing and project cargo services in South America.

DCL and Vanguard hosted a booth at this year’s expo, which is the largest annual trade and transportation event in South America. This year was no exception as the event broke previous attendance records with more than 28,000 people attending the event, held from April 18-20, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The most recent addition to the services offered to Brazil is the introduction, this month, of direct service every two weeks from Miami into Manaus. The first container on this new service will load in Miami on May 22. The transit time for this service is 26 days from Miami.

Manaus, the interior city located on the Negro River about 1200 miles from where the Amazon meets the Atlantic Ocean, is considered the industrial capital of Amazonas state. “This is one of the few direct consolidation services available to this market. With a population of close to two million people, and an increase in business development throughout the region, we’re prepared to invest in providing a direct service,” stated Bruce Ericson, Vice President of Sales for DCL. “Before this, customers generally booked a 20 foot container, even if they only had 10 meters of freight, to get it into Manaus on a scheduled service,” added Ericson.

Over the past few months, DCL and Vanguard have diversified their service offerings between North America and Brazil with the introduction of direct consolidation services from Houston and Atlanta to Santos. DCL and Vanguard now offer a total of five weekly direct sailings to Santos with services also loading in Chicago, Miami, and New York. Transit times for these sailings are among the fastest in the industry. Direct service from Houston to Santos is 22 days, which is generally four days faster than transshipment services otherwise available. Scheduled direct consolidation services are also available to Rio Grande and Rio de Janeiro.

For service from Santos, Vanguard and DCL have also recently added direct consolidation and full containerload services to South Africa. Weekly consolidation services to Durban, and fortnightly services to Capetown, are now available. At destination, scheduled on-forwarding services to Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and major South African ports(East London/Port Elizabeth) are available via Durban. In South Africa, arriving cargo is handled by SAEL, DCL’s partner in South Africa. The company maintains offices in Capetown, Durban, Johannesburg, and Port Elizabeth.

A recent increase in local manufacturing operations for many top multinational corporations has prompted Vanguard Logistics Services to open a dedicated Global Accounts Department in Brazil. From the company’s office in Sao Paulo, the department will provide consultancy services covering customs clearance, air, ocean, and inland transport. Cristina Castell, who has worked on similar projects for the past six years with Vanguard Argentina, has been named as manager for the newly created department.

“This department gives many of our forwarder accounts the opportunity to have on-site, dedicated service for global accounts doing business in Brazil,” stated David Keen, Commercial Manager for Vanguard in Brazil. “For project cargo shipments, or vendor sourcing from Europe, Asia, or North America, this is particularly helpful,” added Keen.

DCL is currently the largest neutral NVO, in terms of volume, for export shipments from North America. DCL was founded in Carson, California-USA in 1978 and offers FCL and project cargo services, as well as over 300 weekly direct consolidation services to destinations worldwide.

Vanguard was established in the U.S.A. in 1998 as a neutral warehousing provider. Over the past several years, Vanguard Logistics Services has expanded its scope of services to include neutral agency representation and third party logistics services. At the same time, Vanguard has also expanded its geographic scope; opening offices in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore.