China’s largest e-tailer Alibaba has announced a partnership with leading container shipping line Maersk that will allow Alibaba customers to reserve space on Maersk’s vessels.
Maersk opened its service to Chinese shippers via Alibaba’s OneTouch booking service on 22 December 2016, allowing customers to book space directly rather than going through freight forwarders, reports Reuters.
'The initial launch ... allows existing Alibaba OneTouch [registered] users to lock in the price of required cargo spaces on selected routes by pre-paying a deposit amount,' a Maersk spokeswoman told Reuters.
The service is offered from eight Chinese ports on routes to Europe and Asia, with Maersk stating it would trial similar digital services on third party portals.
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