Books for Africa organization is one of Vector’s recurrent non-profit partners as part of our commitment to support the local communities wherever we are present through our business activity.

The final destination in Swaziland, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, was located in a remote area.

Poor ground conditions due to the lack of road infrastructure and recent rainy weather required specific coordination and ground transportation expertise.

Working together with Books for Africa local representatives, our local team made the decision of using a crane truck to transport the container, rather than the usual container truck.

Adding additional stability on the ground, once at the final destination, the crane truck team managed to lift the container over a fence to place the cargo safely at the receiver’s property.

Up to date, Vector has proudly managed to deliver more than 50 million books to kids in Africa, aiming to support local education needs in the continent.

Angel of Hope Foundation, is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support the most vulnerable in society through providing access to healthcare, social services, education and economic empowerment initiatives with emphasis on women, youth and children.

The critical cargo, collected by Angel of Hope Foundation, needed to be urgently delivered from the US to Zimbabwe as part of the relief campaign designed to support the victims of the cyclone Idai.

Adding further complexity, the cargo required duty exemption on certificates and import licenses from the consignee due to tax exceptions.

Customs at destination in Harare also request an exoneration letter and original documents before cargo arrive in Zimbabwe.

Our long-standing credentials in remote and complex logistics projects and destinations helped to give us the confidence to overcome the last-minute roadblocks.

Working together with our experienced customs agents on both ends, Angel of Hope and Vector delivered safely, compliantly and on time the medical supplies in Zimbabwe.

The container of equipment and supplies made a difference for the doctors and nurses assisting with the day-to-day care of the victims of the tropical cyclone disaster.

Vector continues to proudly partner and support Angel of Hope Foundation, aiming to relief those in need, regardless the complexity of the final destination.

Our client Pedals for Progress requested a new shipment to Togo. For those who want to know more, Pedals for Progress empowers sustainable economic development by shipping recycling bicycles and sewing machines from the US to motivated people in the developing world.

In order to make the exportation to Togo, we had to create an ECTN, which is a declaration to the African country of the merchandise that is entering the country.

Following the paperwork procedure, and sending the original documents by parcel making sure they received them on time, for the parcel company it was hard to find the consignee address since it was a small location not easy to find, so the consignee had to collect the papers directly at the parcel office in his locality.

The name they used as the consignee was not registered as an NGO, even though they are a non-profit organization. The consignee realized this one week previous to the vessel arrival, this is important since the duties and taxes and taxes amount to pay, may vary if the shipment is for charity, which was this case.

This was a challenge for our client since they had really high costs in duties and taxes.

The consignee was really happy once they were able to take out all the bicycles and the sewing machines. These articles made an impact in their lives since they really needed them for the young generations to keep studying and for the women to have a source of income through the sewing machines to help their families.

Our client needed Vector complex-regions expertise to help them move an Auger Sampler from Pikeville (US) to Kazakhstan.

One of the main roadblocks was that the route requested, ended in Russia, and then we needed to move the cargo from Russia to Kazakhstan. This was especially challenging due to the huge dimension and delicacy of the Auger Sampler.

Large cargo item involving US-Russia project logistics with complex clearance processes at destination.

Our team and local representatives seamlessly arranged all logistics and paperwork requirements, including back up plans, at both origin and destination.

Logistics involved a flat rack 40’ container, a double drop extended truck and tailor-made wrap from port to port.

The cargo arrived on time, safely and punch-free to Novorossiysk, Rusia. The clearance process was swiftly managed by our local representatives.

Vector provided the full project logistics scope of work for these operations, which demonstrated the breadth of Vector internal expertise and the ability to provide a complete service package, with unique and tailored made solutions.

When an overnight fire burns down a small school in the northern city of Kaktovik in Alaska, our client asks Vector to lead an urgent shipment that would help local kids and teachers resume school activities.

12 modular buildings needed to be delivered from Edmonton in Canada to Kaktovik.

The plan required gathering in record time multiple documentation involving several stakeholders, including shipper, consignee, broker and truckers.

Rapid coordination and teamwork between all the parties involved made it possible to expedite a process that otherwise could take a much longer timeline.

By working together with the local community and our representatives at the destination, the modular building successfully crossed the border helping the kids to resume their school activities.

The client requests us to move a load from Los Angeles, California, to Iquique Chile. The commodity was General New / Return used items, this kind of freight needs to be fumigated to access to Chile, because of this we had to find a fumigator that can handle this with the correct gas, once we contact the fumigator we had to be very coordinated with the Supplier, the trucking company and the Fumigation company since we had to do everything on time to ingate the container to the terminal before the Cut-off because the fumigation requires ventilation of 24 hours once it’s done.

The LA Port is one of the most congested ports in the united states, so to ingate a container you must have an appointment and be there at the exact moment otherwise if you lose your appointment you will have to get a new one since this was going to be fumigated and ventilated. We had just a few days to complete everything. There was no place for mistakes or setbacks because we had to ingate this on time.

We successfully coordinated everything on time and ingate the container without any problems or extra charges and it was delivered to Chile on time and with the documentation that is required to release at destination customs.

Fumigation of cargo at the port of origin requires a well-orchestrated plan to avoid missing the tight timeline and strict requirements of this process inquired by the export authorities.

A cargo of credential clothing ready to make it from Cleveland, via New York, to the port city of Iquique in Chile, called for fine-tuning team and vendor’s plan execution involving the three geographies.

Missing the short window of time following fumigation would mean an increase in cost due to unplanned detention and storage.

From rail to port, our logistics team in the US coordinated all the steps in perfect timing so the container would be handled to our local fumigation vendor, all within the required short time window.

The container was successfully placed back on track without missing any steps or delays.

We delivered to the final destination on time and in compliance.

Oftentimes, long-distance, dangerous cargo or even remote locations are not the only complex projects we love to take on in Vector.

Creating, or strengthening new export lanes that are not considered regular destinations is always a challenge for any logistics company or carrier.

When our customer asked us to coordinate an urgent cargo shipment from the city of Savannah in Georgia to the Caribbean Island of St. Thomas, we knew we had an opportunity to tap on our team’s expertise in complex projects and destinations.

Under a tight timeline, Vector’s team did a thorough assessment of the potential routes, carriers and customs requirements for cargo delivery and exporting to St. Thomas.

Once the team identify the ideal route and process, and by working together with the local agent at destination, we managed to deliver for our customer on time and damage-free.

There is no better incentive for us in Vector than knowing that we are helping the local communities with our work, to somehow help them improve their quality of life.

In this case, we had to ensure timely delivery to a complex-region of a donation of assorted surgical instruments and heart-lung machine spare parts from Albany, US, to the port city of Um Qasr in southern Iraq.

This medical equipment would be used to support local heart surgery needs in the community.

Shipment of donations requires specific paperwork and customs clearance procedures that oftentimes can impact the timeline if preventive actions are not put in place.

We completed the shipment successfully moving 52 items, palletizing 50 boxes onto heat-treated pallets and crating 6 units with 5 custom heat-treated crates.

Despite a slow customs clearance process at destination, our local agents managed to work seamlessly with the local hospital representatives and local import authorities to expedite the last mile of the process.

The hospital received the items within the expected timeline with all the equipment in perfect condition.

Our client in Haiti needed assistance sourcing a specific type of pigment from Mexico in order to fulfil a large order of plastic caps for Coca-Cola and Danone.

This was a big opportunity for our client to grow their business since they could not find the correct pigments locally to complete the order. They needed a partner that could coordinate with the supplier in Mexico and ship the pigments as quickly as possible.

The order was time-sensitive and the client’s continued relationship with Coca-Cola required them to complete the order on time.

Pigments usually are considered haz-mat which added a few steps to the shipping process and sometimes causes delays when exporting/importing.

Our local team in Mexico coordinated with the supplier to start the export process and during this time discovered that these pigments were derived from only natural sources so they weren’t considered hazardous. That eliminated some worries about the additional documentation.

The team worked to secure an export booking quickly and filed all the paperwork so that the order was able to get in transit quickly, delivering the pigments on time.

By partnering with our client, Vector’s role was to deliver safely the medical cargo, while supervising and expediting a complex physical inspection of the entire load at the destination.

Through the re-distribution of medical supplies and equipment, Matter is increasing access to health and quality of life in some of the hardest to reach corners of the world.

Our experience in designing and managing logistic challenges in Central America helped to ensure the medical equipment would arrive safely and on time to the beautiful department of Francisco Morazan in Honduras.

Vector’s local representatives worked together with customs agents at destination, ensuring the inspection process was duly performed and within the expected timeline.

Vector and Matter continue to work together to ensure rapid and safe delivery of medical equipment to remote destinations around the world.

As part of the ‘World Food Day’, Rise Against Hunger was partnering with Kraft Heinz and United Airlines, organizing several events in different locations in Brazil.

The logistics challenge involved multiple ports of origin in the US, customs clearance at Guarulhos Airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and coordination of ground transportation to different locations within the country.

Preferred flight route unavailability and scarcity of truck drivers at destination put at risk the integrity of the project.

Vector’s route’s analysis team, working in partnership with our local agents in Brazil, ran multiple route scenarios

A final recommendation, combining different carriers and routes, was made to our partners Rise Against Hunger.

Our ground transportation expert team in Brazil helped us to swiftly find experienced and reliable drivers, helping us to deliver per agreed deadlines.

The events were delivered as originally planned thanks to the excellent partnership between Rise Against Hunger, Kraft Heinz and United Airlines, and proudly supported by Vector.

An expedite medical shipment needed to be delivered from Cleveland to the city of Mixco in Guatemala. Delivery within the committed timeline was critical.

Last-minute software issues in the booking system caused unplanned delays potentially impacting the committed timing of delivery. Our client asked us to move an air shipment of medical supplies to a client of theirs in Guatemala.

Vector’s agents at both origin and destination worked seamlessly with the airline and our client to find a quick solution without jeopardizing the deadlines.

In a record time, the team managed to secure the cargo on a flight departing less than 24 hours later.

Our client received their shipment in time and was incredibly pleased that everything was delivered in a timely and efficient way.

El cliente solicitó apoyo en la recolección de diversos productos en su residencia en Brasil para traerlo a la ciudad de mexico por cuestion de trabajo.

Análisis del proceso de inventario y embalaje de los trailers para que en los diferentes paises no hubiera problemas ni demoras.

Fue necesario tramitar algunos permisos especiales para poder circular la mercancía hasta llegar a MX como se planeó.