French container shipping line CMA CGM and Israel’s Zim have followed in Maersk’s wake and partnered with China’s leading e-commerce giant Alibaba to allow customers to book space on vessels.
The partnership sees Alibaba offer online booking services on its OneTouch website for Chinese shippers, rather than booking through freight forwarders.
The move comes as container shipping lines face weakening demand and a glut of ships, reports Reuters.
'Alibaba.comis open to collaborating with logistics firms who want to join our platform, which aims to streamline the logistics process for small and medium-sized enterprises and empower them to seize cross-border trade opportunities,' an Alibaba spokeswoman told the news agency.
CMA CGM has assigned a memorandum of understanding with Alibaba to cooperate on OneTouch for routes including Qingdao to Barcelona, and Ningbo to Venice. Zim, meanwhile, has allowed customers to book space via OneTouch for routes including Shanghai to India and Pakistan, ad Xiamen to South America.
