Ford and Vastera expand relationship to Europe

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 05 December 2002, 20:30 IST
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DULLES: Vastera Inc. (Nasdaq:VAST) Thursday announced that it will be assuming responsibility for Ford Motor Company's (NYSE:F) global trade operations in Europe effective December 1, 2002. "Vastera continues to drive substantial operational efficiencies within our global supply chain," said Roman Krygier, group vice president, manufacturing and quality for Ford. "Since taking over our North American trade operations, Vastera has reduced our duties and brokerage costs significantly. We look forward to comparable hard-dollar savings and continued excellent service in Europe as Vastera assumes responsibility for our European trade operations." Vastera began managing Ford's US global trade operations in September 2000. Following its success in the US, Vastera assumed responsibility for Ford's Mexican global trade operations in February 2001, and then Ford's Canadian global trade operations a month later. This most recent European expansion with Ford has enabled Vastera to further establish its automotive global trade platform. In conjunction with the European announcement and as a validation of the strength of the Ford/Vastera partnership in North America, Ford has agreed to extend its current agreement for the US and Mexico operations. Also, Ford and Vastera have reached agreement on the transition of Ford's operation to Vastera's software platform. "We are very excited to expand our strong partnership with Ford," said Mark Ferrer, President and CEO of Vastera. "I would like to thank Ford for its continued confidence in Vastera. We welcome the opportunity to work with the Ford team in Europe. We expect to leverage their considerable trade expertise to meet not only the needs of Ford, but other leading companies within Europe." Over the past two years, Vastera has created an unrivaled automotive platform for global trade managed services. Combining its industry leading technology with world-class trade expertise, Vastera is now providing global trade managed services to some of the largest automotive companies in the world, including Ford, Visteon, International Truck, Land Rover, Jaguar, Auto Alliance, DENSO and Unipart.