UWL, a leading global third-party logistics solutions provider, has expanded its global footprint with the opening of its first office in China in Shanghai’s Bund area. UWL will start servicing customers commencing December 1, 2022.

“2021 and 2022 were years of tremendous challenge for UWL and our customer base, who, to this day, remain heavily invested in China and Asia for their manufacturing needs,” said UWL President Duncan Wright. “This expansion is part of our strategy to be physically closer to our customers’ factories and our ocean network and carrier partners. The better we can collaborate on solutions and have more direct control of origin services, the better we can support our customers.”

Growth and demand across the shipping industry has helped fuel customer requests for in-market expertise and know-how from UWL. The Shanghai location is the fourth new office opening for UWL in the last 12 months, following an office in Chicago in November 2021, and locations in Long Beach and Vietnam in April 2022.

“We are in the final stages of delivering system and process training and we look forward to taking customer bookings,” said UWL Vice President Martin Karczewski, whose team is responsible for carrier and agent relationships across the globe.

He added: “With Shanghai being the busiest port in the world, most of our customers have some relationship to central China. Being physically located here allows us to respond faster to their needs and concerns, and we improve our ability to access multiple capacity types, be it via agent relationships or direct carrier relationships.”

This expansion in China will also bring WorldScope, UWL’s proprietary supply chain visibility tool, to more customers. Users can utilize WorldScope to track shipments, manage invoices and documents, and even book export shipments, all from one portal. Customers can also opt in to WorldScope+ Purchase Order Management (POM) to drill down even further - to the item, SKU, or purchase order level - giving peace-of-mind that the right product is being delivered to the right place at the right time.

“We are confident that this office will act as a control tower for UWL’s operations across China,” added Wright. “Even though China has seen recent political change and strict COVID protocols, at the end of the day, it remains a huge and complex market that feeds a large percentage of US demand. To take UWL to the next level, we need to have boots on the ground to manage cargo both globally and locally, and we will continue to add strategic international office locations in the near future.”