Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

newsworthy

Maersk, Alibaba in agreement allowing liner's customers to book space using Alibaba's site

Deal could usher in new approach to capacity procurement.

In what could be the wave of the future in procuring global container line capacity, Danish shipping giant Maersk Line and Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba have signed a deal allowing Maersk's Chinese customers to use Alibaba's website to book space on Maersk's vessels.

According to published reports out of Asia, Maersk's Chinese shipping customers, as of Dec. 22, can reserve vessel space for their shipping containers on Alibaba's "OneTouch" booking website. OneTouch, which Alibaba acquired in 2010, allows small and medium-sized Chinese exporters to book airfreight and parcel delivery services. It also provides customs clearance services. Maersk did not return an e-mail request for comment, and there were no formal announcements on either Maersk or Alibaba web sites.


Typically, ocean shippers book freight with freight forwarders. However, as Alibaba and its U.S. rival, Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc., look to expand into transportation and logistics and improve control over their supply chain networks, new services like these may become mainstream. Last year, Amazon.com agreed to lease 40 freighters from two U.S. air cargo companies, Wilmington, Ohio-based Air Transport Services Group Inc. and Purchase, N.Y.-based Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc., to support one to two-day deliveries of products ordered from Amazon's website. Amazon has also registered a Chinese business as an ocean freight forwarder.

Dr. Zvi Schreiber, CEO and founder of Freightos, a Hong Kong-based logistics technology platform, said in an e-mail that the combination of Alibaba, with an 80-percent e-commerce market share in China, and Maersk, which as the world's largest liner company by capacity controls about one-quarter of all container ships, means millions of Chinese manufacturers and retailers will have a "direct line" to U.S. buyers and avoid markups assessed by third parties like freight forwarders.

"Maersk is testing the waters of digital sales with one of the world's largest e-commerce companies, while threatening forwarder business," Schreiber said. Alibaba, meanwhile, has thrown down the gauntlet to global e-tailers and has effectively one-upped Amazon by going directly to Maersk, while Amazon is still functioning as an intermediary, he said.

The Latest

More Stories

Logistics gives back: October 2024

For the past seven years, third-party service provider ODW Logistics has provided logistics support for the Pelotonia Ride Weekend, a campaign to raise funds for cancer research at The Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. As in the past, ODW provided inventory management services and transportation for the riders’ bicycles at this year’s event. In all, some 7,000 riders and 3,000 volunteers participated in the ride weekend.


Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

siemens logistics airport buggage

Vanderlande to acquire Siemens Logistics for $325 million

The logistics process automation provider Vanderlande has agreed to acquire Siemens Logistics for $325 million, saying its specialty in providing value-added baggage and cargo handling and digital solutions for airport operations will complement Netherlands-based Vanderlande’s business in the warehousing, airports, and parcel sectors.

The acquisition has received approval from the Supervisory and Management Boards of both Vanderlande and its parent company Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) as well as the Management Board of parent company Siemens AG.

Keep ReadingShow less

Resilience is a daily fight

I recently came across a report showing that 86% of CEOs around the world see resiliency problems in their supply chains, and that business leaders are spending more time than ever tackling supply chain-related challenges. Initially I was surprised, thinking that the lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic surely prepared industry leaders for just about anything, helping to bake risk and resiliency planning into corporate strategies for companies of all sizes.

But then I thought about the growing number of issues that can affect supply chains today—more frequent severe weather events, accelerating cybersecurity threats, and the tangle of emerging demands and regulations around decarbonization, to name just a few. The level of potential problems seems to be increasing at lightning speed, making it difficult, if not impossible, to plan for every imaginable scenario.

Keep ReadingShow less
AI tops digital supply chain investment priorities

AI tops digital supply chain investment priorities

Investing in artificial intelligence (AI) is a top priority for supply chain leaders as they develop their organization’s technology roadmap, according to data from research and consulting firm Gartner.

AI—including machine learning—and Generative AI (GenAI) ranked as the top two priorities for digital supply chain investments globally among more than 400 supply chain leaders surveyed earlier this year. But key differences apply regionally and by job responsibility, according to the research.

Keep ReadingShow less
voting stickers for election results analysis

Report: Manufacturing leaders should think beyond November election

U.S. manufacturing leaders should think beyond November and focus on responsiveness for building long-term success regardless of who occupies the Oval Office in 2025, according to a report from Propel Software about uncertainty on business conditions as the presidential election approaches.

Regardless of the elected administration, the future likely holds significant changes for trade, taxes, and regulatory compliance. As a result, it’s crucial that U.S. businesses avoid making decisions contingent on election outcomes, and instead focus on resilience, agility, and growth, according to California-based Propel, which provides a product value management (PVM) platform for manufacturing, medical device, and consumer electronics industries.

Keep ReadingShow less