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International Freight Forwarder |
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Family is the Foundation at ACI Cargo |
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From Small Beginnings in Colombia to a Global Business |
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When the Gonzalez family started ACI Cargo, Inc. in Barranquilla, Colombia, in
1971, they may not have imagined where their business would take them. Just as
cargo travels up and down the Magdalena River, connecting Barranquilla to the
Caribbean and the world, so to the Gonzalez family reached out beyond their
first office to create a network within Colombia and across the globe. |
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We have experienced staff and long-standing relationships with customers –
that makes us successful." |
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Mr. Raul Gonzalez, President, ACI Cargo, Inc. |
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www.acicargo.com |
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International Freight Forwarder |
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Magaya Cargo System |
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ACI Cargo, Inc. is a freight forwarder and NVOCC based in Colombia in 1971 with
offices in the U.S. and other countries across the world such as China. Their
services include air, ocean, and ground door-to-door shipping, customs clearance
and distribution in Colombia, and other services. ACI Cargo handle all kinds of
freight, break bulk, and project cargo such as machinery and cranes for coal
mining and other industries. |
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 From their origins in 1971, ACI Cargo
began as a family business, and today, the third generation of the family is
working at the company. Raul Gonzalez, president of ACI Cargo speaking from his
Miami office, explained that his father, Felipe Gonzalez, started the business
in Barranquilla, Colombia. His sister and brother soon joined the company, and
the company expanded by creating other divisions in different cities such as
Cartagena, Bogota, Santa Marta, and Buenaventura.
With offices in many locations throughout Colombia, ACI Cargo can provide
logistics services to their customers via air, ocean, or ground. Barranquilla is
a port city in northern Colombia with access to the Caribbean Sea. The port of
Buenaventura is on the Pacific side. Mr. Raul Gonzalez decided to open an office
in Miami, Florida, when he visited his son who was studying at a university in
the United States. His other son runs the operations in Colombia. He opened the
Miami location in year 2000 with just three people. Now they have nine employees
in Miami, including his niece, Georgette Gonzalez Miksi. Other U.S. offices are
located in Houston and Los Angeles, cities with busy air and sea ports.
Their Miami office is busy, with an operations department, accounting, sales,
and administration, all working on imports and exports worldwide. Maps on the
walls show their many locations such as Shanghai, China, the busiest container
port in the world, according to 2010 statistics.
They manage their shipments using the Magaya Cargo System. They started using it
when they opened the Miami office, and the software has become just another tool
in their day just like the phones and the copier. |
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The employees in the Miami office receive cargo, store it in the 8,000
square-foot warehouse, use their own trucks for local pickups and deliveries,
and create straight shipments and consolidations that go around the world. The
Magaya Cargo System helps them handle each step of the process.
Ms. Georgette Gonzalez is well versed
in all the processes, having worked at ACI for about eight years. She provided
an overview of how they work: When a customer asks ACI to pick up cargo for
them, the staff at ACI creates a Pickup Order in their Magaya system, arranges
the pickup, and then the Magaya system converts all the details in the Pickup
Order into a Warehouse Receipt and automatically creates the Warehouse Receipt
document. They print labels from the Magaya system to identify the boxes when
they arrive.
Different types of cargo arrive at their Miami warehouse, including machinery,
pipes, automobiles, and alligator skins and raw materials used to create leather
products.
Another employee, Beverly Perez, handle imports and other processes. She
explained that most inbound cargo that arrives in Miami from Colombia is
transiting to Bangkok, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Most of their imports arrive by
air, approximately 80%. The rest is via ocean from many countries, and the
ground shipments come from Canada and Mexico.
 The Colombian office sends a pre-alert notice of the incoming shipment that
includes the air waybill and other details about the shipment. If ACI has better
rates with another carrier, they will arrange to change planes in Miami to get
the customer the best rate. They can transfer all the charges to the new air
shipment. All the information is in the Magaya system so anyone at the office
can look it up.
ACI Cargo processes the documents that Customs requires for inbound shipments by
using the documentation forms that are included in the Magaya system.
Shipments are made in their Magaya system using all the data about the items
that was entered earlier, saving time. They select the documents they need from
the Magaya system such as Cargo Manifests, Delivery Orders, and security
documents and attach them to shipments.
Charges are sent to the integrated accounting system so the accounting staff can
create invoices, bills, and accounting reports such as unpaid bills due to their
air carriers for the past two weeks so they know what needs to be paid.
They use the Automated Export System (AES) that is built into the Magaya system
to process their exports from the United States. ACI Cargo offers two ways for
their customers to check the status of their shipments online from the ACI
website. One screen opens the Magaya LiveTrack interactive tool where customers
can view all their transactions. Another screen has a dropdown menu of search
options so that customers can enter an Air Waybill number or a Bill of Lading
number or other transaction number and then see that document.
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 Mr. Gonzalez started a new business about two years ago as an international
purchasing agent of mining and maritime equipment. “We sell equipment to coal
mines in Colombia such as floating cranes that load coal from a barge to a ship.
We also sell tugboats, barges, and parts,” Mr. Gonzalez said. “We buy for
companies who need the equipment and use submersible ships to transport the
cargo. We also track the transportation with our Magaya software.”
Colombia
has the second-largest coal reserves in South America, slightly behind Brazil.
In 2008, Colombia was the fourth-largest net coal exporter in the world.
The purchasing business grew by 40% since it started.
From their beginnings of working in rented space with just three people, ACI
Cargo is now moving to a new, larger location in Miami to accommodate their
growth. They used to do business in Miami via agents, but now are well
established.
They hold certifications for handling hazardous materials, and the company is
C-TPAT certified. They are members of many associations, including IATA, the
World Cargo Alliance, and All World Shipping. Mr. Gonzalez is building
relationships with new customers, drawing on his 40 years of experience. Mr.
Gonzalez credits the company’s success to family and his experienced staff. With
an international network, ACI Cargo is ready to succeed in today’s global
business landscape.
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