Transplace, a provider of transportation management services and logistics technology, has announced that its Mexico division has become licensed as a U.S. Customs Broker. The third-party logistics (3PL) provider currently manages more than 3,000 shipments per month across the U.S. – Mexico border. By obtaining this license, the company is now a single source provider, giving full visibility to its cross-border customers.

Customs Brokers are private individuals, partnerships, associations, or corporations licensed, regulated, and empowered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assist importers and exporters in meeting Federal requirements governing imports and exports. Brokers must have expertise in the entry procedures, admissibility requirements, classification, valuation, and the rates of duty and applicable taxes and fees for imported merchandise; and, they provide the necessary information and appropriate payments to CBP on behalf of their customers. While there are over 10,000 licenses, only a handful belong to 3PL entities.

“At Fenco, we recognize that there are very few third-party logistics companies that can provide full service when crossing the border. Transplace Mexico has taken that even further by providing a transportation management system (TMS) that is fully integrated with Mexico and U.S. Customs status events,” said Logistics Director Pedro Hernandez from Fenco. “The visibility and speed of service gained offers us a competitive advantage for our customers and suppliers.”

Fenco partnered with Transplace in part because of its strong expertise in transportation management services and U.S.-Mexico customs brokerage capabilities. Because of the nature of its business – where auto parts are shipped back and forth between Mexico and the U.S. – incremental costs can quickly become significant and visibility to those costs is enhanced when a controlling technical solution is in place.

“Transplace Mexico was formed in late 2007, and the vision from the beginning was to give Transplace customers an experienced logistics partner that could offer a full TMS solution with visibility, reporting, tracking, and, ultimately, the ability to strategically plan and execute its cross-border operations. Earning this license is a very important part of the full plan coming to fruition,” said Transplace Mexico Managing Director Jose Minarro. “To make sure that it best serves our customers, Transplace Mexico is using a Lean Six Sigma approach for deployment – in line with our corporate culture – to set up procedures and systems using our new license.”