Evergreen Line has teamed up with Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, to provide booking for sea freight services online and cater for the needs of smaller volume shippers by allowing them to search for freight rates and reserve cargo space on the Alibaba.com platform directly.
Danish business conglomerate Maersk Line, France's CMA CGM and Israel's Zim have also recently bowed to e-commerce pressure by making their services available with the Alibaba Group's wholesale marketplace.
Evergreen Logistics Corporation has also been appointed as a designated provider of customized, comprehensive logistics solutions for Alibaba.com members opting for its services.
Evergreen Line, the largest of all Taiwanese container shipping companies and the sixth largest by fleet size in the world, stated that it had identified the growth of e-commerce as resulting in “small, fragmented orders from global buyers”.
The booking facility will be primarily available to suppliers in China and will initially offer suppliers routes from China’s main ports to Israel and the South American region.
Maersk Offers Online Booking With Alibaba
Evergreen Line has also promised that once a booking is confirmed, the selected price is also locked-in, and that the rate will not alter “regardless of how the market price changes”.
It stated: “With a guarantee of space and price, shippers can keep their production lines running with assurance and control their logistics costs with confidence.”
“In addition to this new direct booking facility , Evergreen Line is also responding to the needs of smaller shippers for one-stop logistics services by appointing Evergreen Logistics as a supplier of such services for Alibaba.com suppliers opting for Evergreen Line’s sea freight services, contactable at the online booking point.
“No matter if it is a trucking arrangement, customs clearance or documentation requirement, Evergreen Logistics can provide cost-effective and time-critical solutions to shippers who may not be familiar with such procedures.”
