October 28, 2004 12:50 PM, EDT

UPS Raises Some Rates, Restores Fuel Surcharge on Ground Shipments

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PS Inc. said Thursday it was raising some package shipping rates and restoring a fuel surcharge on ground shipments, effective Jan. 3.

The company said in a statement rates for units including UPS Ground, UPS Next Day Air and U.S. international services would increase rates by 2.9%. It also announced a 5.9% increase in rates at its UPS Hundredweight Service, which it said was an alternative to less-than-truckload carriers.

UPS said a fuel surcharge of 2% percent would be added to its UPS Ground, UPS Ground Hundredweight and UPS Standard To Canada services. UPS removed the ground surcharge in January 2004.

The surcharge will fluctuate with the Energy Department's prices, the statement said.

Other changes include an increase of 25 cents for the delivery area surcharge on residential and commercial services to more remote ZIP codes. In addition, the residential surcharge will increase 10 cents for UPS Ground services and 35 cents for UPS Next Day Air, UPS 2nd Day Air and UPS 3 Day Select.

It also said it was reducing the fuel surcharge applied to UPS Next Day Air, UPS 2nd Day Air and UPS 3 Day Select and international services by setting a maximum cap of 9.5%.

UPS is ranked No. 1 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies.

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