Geodis has introduced a new air zone skip service to help U.S. e-commerce companies shipping to Canada achieve faster direct-to-customer cross-border delivery.
Geodis’ existing small parcel delivery service, MyParcel, allows US businesses to ship to 26 European countries, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The new air zone skip service is intended to make shipping into Canada more efficient. In 2023, Geodis intends to expand MyParcel to new geographical areas.
“Zone skipping can be a very beneficial strategy for high-volume e-commerce shippers looking to increase operational efficiencies, lower shipping costs per package, and shorten transit times,” said Michael Lamia, senior vice president of Geodis MyParcel and Geodis eLogistics. “As e-commerce shippers continue to navigate consumer expectations for faster speeds, working with a trusted logistics partner with a full breadth of expertise across air, ocean, road, and last mile — including alternative shipping methods like zone skipping — is critical to remaining competitive in today’s dynamic market.”
Zone skipping is a freight transportation service that combines small shipments with other small shipments to form a larger shipment that is then shipped to a destination area. Without consolidation, there is insufficient volume to send individual items to the destination area at a reasonable cost. It is commonly used in trucking to generate truckload volumes, but it can also be used in air cargo.
“To put it simply, Geodis MyParcel gives domestic e-commerce brands a simple way to go global,” Lamia said. “Whether shipping to Canada, the United Kingdom, or any of our 26 designated European countries, Geodis MyParcel enables brands to continue growing their e-commerce business on a global scale by offering the right balance of speed and price to provide customers with a seamless delivery experience.”
All Canadian provinces can use the service, which includes full end-to-end tracking visibility and management of the entire shipping process, from pickup to customs clearance to last-mile delivery.
Geodis has been increasing the efficiency of its e-commerce operations, most recently announcing the addition of 1,000 autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) at global facilities and the acquisition of a last-mile delivery provider.
Geodis announced in August that it would deploy 1,000 Locus Robotics AMRs over the next two years. Geodis currently employs Locus AMRs in 14 facilities that assist in the fulfillment of orders for retail and consumer brands.
Locus Robotics collaborates with customers through a robotics-as-a-service subscription model, making it simple for customers to add to or subtract from their robotic fleet without the need for a large capital investment. According to the company, its AMRs collaborate with humans to improve piece-handling productivity by two to three times.
Geodis also announced the acquisition of Need It Now, a New Jersey-based provider of final-mile delivery, omnichannel, and same-day logistics, in August. Need It Now expects revenue to exceed $750 million this year. According to Geodis, the combined companies would have generated $3.7 billion in revenue in the United States in 2021.
