WSSA Advantage
Welcome!
The Wine and Spirits Shippers Association was founded over thirty years ago by 76 inspired wine and spirits importers and wholesalers, with the sole objective of reducing their importing costs through volume buying. WSSA’s exclusive purpose is to benefit our members. We do this by aggregating members’ volumes to gain preferential rates and service—whether it’s ocean transportation, warehousing and consolidation, inland transportation at origin or destination, marine cargo insurance, or specific programs like optimizing container loads, less than container load services, conto deposito warehousing at origin, flexitanks and ISO tanks, or providing services to protect against extreme temperatures. We are organized on a not-for-profit basis, so all benefits go wholly to our members.
Today, WSSA is recognized as one of the oldest and most effective shippers’ associations in North America. Our membership includes over 600 of the leading suppliers, importers, and wholesalers in the beverage industry.
WSSA is not only low freight rates: we can effectively transport your products from origin to destination, providing single-source supply chain management from door to door, for both import and export cargo.
WSSA has a long standing strategic partnership with Albatrans Inc., the designated freight forwarder of WSSA, as well as extensive relationships with ocean carriers and insurance vendors. WSSA is an independent entity, we are not owned by forwarders, ocean carriers, or any other vendor which might compromise our mission. We are here for you. WSSA is owned and managed by our members and directed by a Board of Directors composed of executives from the beverage industry.
I’m proud to join WSSA and continue the tradition of excellence, consistency, and reliability that have been the hallmarks of the Association for many years. It is an exciting time to join WSSA, as we have a host of new offerings and services. With the recent opening of Albatrans in Mexico and Canada, we can now offer all types of services to and from these two countries. We look forward to introducing our members to new cost savings ideas, such as the possibility of converting over the road moves to ocean moves from Mexico. We are also offering more options in our insurance program—with the same low rates but more convenient processing. WSSA has also gone “social”, with the launch of our facebook page, twitter, linked in, and our blog. Follow us and like us!
From our site, you can also access other sites for industry and regulatory information, ocean carrier schedules and status, international conversion tables, and many other sites essential to your business.
Despite the advances in technology, the essence of our service is our people—the WSSA Team and those whom we have selected to monitor and book your orders, to load your shipments and transport them to your destination, to ensure that documentation is timely and correct, and to oversee the entire supply chain—ensuring everything flows smoothly and keeping you abreast of the status of each shipment.
Not incidentally, WSSA’s Marine Insurance Program continues to lead the industry in competiveness, comprehensive coverage, prompt claims settlement, and rapid restitution. We’ve continued to refine our members’ coverage through thirty years of claims experience to ensure responsiveness. The majority of our members elect to insure their shipments through WSSA.
The culmination of our service to you is effective communication—by phone, e-mail, fax, or mail—to keep you abreast of anything which could affect your business, your orders, or your bottom line.
I look forward to working with all of our members, and to adding new members to the WSSA family.
Alison Leavitt
