UPS is expanding its UPS Worldwide Express Freight service to nine new countries: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Malta, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia.

Together with the eight additional countries added within the past year, the service is now offered in 66 origin and 64 destination countries and territories. UPS also expanded UPS Worldwide Express Freight service to over 2,110 zip codes in Mexico in June.

This specialized guaranteed service is designed for urgent, time-sensitive, and high-value international heavyweight shipments over 150 lbs., making it ideal for customers’ product launches, inventory shortages, and equipment failure replacement parts.

Since its launch in 2013, the number of businesses using UPS Worldwide Express Freight service has increased more than 250 percent.

The supply chain benefits of the service include reduced transit times, improved visibility, reduced inventory safety stock, enhanced customer service levels, and shorter order fulfillment cycles and times.

UPS research has shown that customers who use UPS Worldwide Express Freight service have outperformed those who do not. In comparison to their peers, customers using this service have higher growth rates to international markets, evidence they consider UPS Worldwide Express Freight service a competitive advantage to expanding their business internationally.

“Companies in the healthcare, retail, and automotive industries have grown their international volume, 18, 11 and five times more, respectively, using UPS Worldwide Express Freight service than their peers over the last three years,” said Bill Seward, president of U.S. international exports at UPS. “The growth of the UPS Worldwide Express Freight service in a relatively short time period shows it is fulfilling a critical market need for a reliable, urgent heavy freight international shipping service. We will continue to invest in service expansions as customer and industry needs evolve.

Usage data of UPS Worldwide Express Freight service also reveals a number of trade lane trends. The Mexico-to-U.S. trade lane shifted from the fifth most used lane in 2013 to the second most used lane in 2015, second only to the China-to-U.S. lane. This progression is likely due to a growth in manufacturing in Mexico, increases in ecommerce, and the rise in intermodal crossborder shipments between the countries. Earlier this year, UPS announced that it has strengthened its U.S.-Mexico crossborder trade services to support growth on the U.S.-Mexico trade lane.

According to a UPS statement, its Worldwide Express Freight service offers faster guaranteed palletized shipments between 60 pecent of the key city combinations when compared to FedEx’s guaranteed palletized freight service. Delivery is door-to-door and day-definite, with customs brokerage service included. Saturday deliveries are available to select U.S. and Canadian cities.