International courier company UPS and Jamaica’s TARA Courier Services have deepened their relationship, with the local firm assuming complete operational responsibility of UPS’s small packages in Jamaica.

“This makes TARA Courier the exclusive authorised agency for UPS, which processes up to 40,000 import and export shipments for Jamaica annually,” TARA explained in a news release yesterday.

According to the company, the agreement, penned on September 1, 2021, gives it full operational oversight and logistics management of UPS’s local imports and exports processing.

“This offers customers a single integrated service for their delivery needs, including the local clearance and last-mile delivery for UPS inbound small package freight. The value for UPS’s overseas customers will be seen in a far faster and much more efficient processing of packages, particularly for import volumes, as no longer will the import process be fragmented amongst several different entities,” TARA said.

Pointing out that the partnership has been on the table for some time, TARA director Tara Laing said it was cemented during the novel coronavirus pandemic while the company had developed greater efficiencies operationally.

“This new integration will build on those efficiencies even further,” Laing added.

Discussing the impact of the pandemic on the company, Laing said that TARA “has become more intentional at re-establishing deeper relationships with our customers by reaching out to them to find out how they would best be served with all the changes all individuals and companies have had to make”.

She said while much of the freight and shipping industry has faced tremendous challenges, TARA has not experienced difficulties in logistics.

“Our main source of import volume comes from air freight and this has been relatively unaffected globally, as opposed to sea freight which has challenged many global entities,” Laing stated.

The company boasts of a fleet of two airplanes, 150 vehicles, over 19 drop stations and six offices.

These resources, Laing said, coupled with daily inbound and outbound UPS flights, give TARA the agility to serve its customers’ logistics needs “from a small package delivered on a bike to a large package that requires our truck or airplanes”.

Added Laing: “As we look ahead with this partnership we see it as a win for our customers, who will now experience a seamless experience and afford them more desirable delivery rates as the company will now be able to combine many of the operational costs that previously resulted in higher processing costs.”

TARA Courier was founded by well-known businessman Steven Laing and his wife Charmaine in 1983. The business is now run by their daughter Tara and son Adam who joined the company in 1999 and 2010, respectively.