A look at Columbia Export Group, the company that is quietly powering your favorite Los Cabos businesses By Ashley Alvarado

Year-round sunshine. Miles of sandy coastline. And all of your must-have brands, technology, and even favorite soda drinks—the comforts of back home—within easy reach. It’s not hard to enjoy the accommodations and gorgeous landscapes and seascapes that come with the Los Cabos geography, here at the southernmost point of the 1,000-mile-long Baja Peninsula. But the remote location can make getting merchandise to and from the region a hassle, to say the least.

Enter Columbia Export Group, which has offered a lifeline for many Southern Baja businesses for nearly four decades. It was originally named California Freight Co., and this family-run-and-operated business has evolved with the times. The people at Columbia Export understand what Los Cabos–based companies need, when it comes to getting their merchandise to and from their businesses—and it’s a lot more than your standard semitruck. For 38 years, the import, export, and freight-forwarding business group has provided everything they need: transporting goods across the border and handling the paperwork of importation and exportation.

More recently, the focus has been more heavily placed on logistics. I spoke with Andres Ruffo de Alba, who co-owns the company along with two of his uncles. “We want to help our clients get from A to B in the quickest amount of time, at the best price, with the best quality of service,” he says. That service extends to basically whatever the client needs, even deciding price points. “We offer everything under the same umbrella of services,” Ruffo de Alba says. He, along with the company’s 150-plus employees, works with clients that are importing from or exporting to places like China, the United States, Japan, India, Europe, and Central America. That takes investing in good people and new technology—and a lot of travel for Ruffo de Alba.

“I’m like a doctor. I see a problem or a project, and I work with my client to develop a strategic plan,” Ruffo de Alba says. And, apparently, this doctor makes house calls. In recounting a recent week, Ruffo de Alba listed one-by-one the handful of cities he had visited across Baja and even mainland México.

The client list is impressive. Among the 477 clients they work with are NAPA, Hilton, the Villa Group, Ultrafemme, Harley-Davidson, FiestaAmericana, Querencia, InterContinental, and several other recognizable brands for those who frequent Los Cabos.

So, what exactly do they provide and why does it matter? The Columbia Export business group is made up of three entities: In Otay Mesa, near San Diego, California, there’s a totally fenced 40,000-square-foot warehouse that features refrigerated rooms and freezers, a 10-door switching yard, Internet-based merchandise-tracking system; a U.S. Customs broker; and a Mexican firm authorized as a commercializing company under more than 24–government specific import sector registries.

If you are looking to start or take over a business in Baja California Sur—the Mexican state that encompasses Cabo San Lucas, San José del Cabo, the Tourist Corridor that connects them, and cities like La Paz—it’s likely you’ll need to import products from the United States or other foreign countries and that makes it essential you work with a Customs broker or freight forwarder. Columbia Export provides these services and can ensure you have all the proper paperwork to be accepted in México. That means, green sheets (here called “pedimentos”) and receipts (“facturas”). Such paperwork records the value of the property and is proof that your business has complied with Mexican Customs regulations.

As a fully integrated, bi-national company, Columbia Export Group saves customers a good deal of time, not to mention money. And these are not the only services they provide. The United States Postal Service has approved Columbia Export’s group of companies so that it can host an international mailbox and parcel delivery service.  Ruffo de Alba says the company can import huge orders or even packages as small as a pair of special-order batteries.

To break it down even further, here is what customers can expect from Columbia Export Group.

• Merchandise shipped from San Diego to anywhere in Baja California within three to five business days.
• Availability of U.S. mailing address for clients needing products from websites like eBay.
• Internal and international travel approved by general administration of customs.
• High-quality equipment, satellite tracking of products, constant communication with truck operators via satellite or radiotelephone.
• Online tracking of shipments, from pickup to delivery.
• Ground transportation within México for any type of dry or chilled goods, machinery, containers, household goods, or the like. Southern California transportation is available for certain products. All trucks can be tracked by satellite 24 hours a day.
• More than 58,000 square feet of available storage space in Otay Mesa, near San Diego in California and only a couple dozen feet from the U.S.–México border. This “temporary inventory” space is strategically located near an inspection point to comply with Mexican and U.S. Customs. In addition to Internet, there is labeling, dry and refrigerated storage, packaging, communication with suppliers, and consolidation of shipments available.
• Discounted freight rates for transportation to the port of Ensenada, a city located near Tijuana in Northern Baja, or Long Beach, California, as well as ground freight and airfreight transportation within the United States.

The Facts

Learn more about Columbia Export Group online at www.columbiaexport.com or visit one of their four locations, listed below.

Cabo San Lucas
Address: Calle Flor de Pitahaya S/N, Lote A de la fra­cción B, Fracc. Brisas del Pacifico, cp. 23410
Phone: (624) 173-0015 and (624) 173-0033
Hours: Mon.–Fri. 8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

San José del Cabo

Address: Cerro deLos Cabos 3515
Phone: (624) 172-3589
Hours: Mon.–Fri. 8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

La Paz

Address: Carretera Transpeninsular La Paz, El Centenario, Km 12, Local 3, El Centenario, CP23205
Phone: (612) 123-2324
Hours: Mon.–Fri. 8:30 a.m. ­–5:30 p.m.

San Diego, California

Address: 8640 Siempre Viva Rd., San Diego, CA 92154
Phone: (619) 710-1863
Hours: Mon.–Fri. 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m.