UPS Buys Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Services

UPS acquired Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Services (STTAS) on Nov. 30, UPS said in a Dec. 4 news release. STTAS, the consulting and trade compliance arm of the Sandler Travis law and lobbying firm, "will continue to provide its same services, from the same offices with use of the same personnel," STTAS said in a news release. It will also "continue to serve as a resource" for Sandler Travis "on joint client issues as it has in the past." Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

The UPS acquisition includes STTAS's 750 employees in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America, most of which work outside of the U.S., UPS said. “UPS customers tell us they are looking for a full suite of brokerage services, including trade management and advisory services, from a partner that can help them on a global basis,” said Jim Barber, president, UPS International. “As our customers’ global broker of choice, we can now offer a wider portfolio of services." The combination of UPS Trade Management Services with STTAS "provides customers with an even more powerful set of solutions designed to maximize their trade investments and minimize complexity, time and cost throughout their international trade operations,” he said.

UPS also recently acquired Zone Solutions, which specializes in foreign-trade zone services, UPS said. The additions of STTAS and Zone Solutions "enhance existing UPS solutions and add industry-leading trade management services to UPS’s global portfolio, forming a foundation the company will continue to build upon," UPS said. "Some of these solutions include: duty drawback; regulatory compliance; rules of origin determination; harmonized tariff schedule (HS) classification; export control classification; order management and free trade agreement qualification and verification, and more. All such services [are] designed to free up UPS customers’ resources and improve their bottom line and supply chain velocity."