ZIM and Alibaba team up

Eli Glickman, ZIM president and CEO, commented: “We are proud of this first cooperation with Alibaba.com, which is part and parcel of our innovative strategic vision. We see it as a great opportunity and a mutually beneficial arrangement leading to top-level customer service. It’s an important step for ZIM, expanding digital services for e-commerce customers as well as small and medium enterprises.”

Kuo Zhang, general manager of Alibaba.com, said: “As the world’s largest cross-border e-commerce B2B platform, Alibaba.com aims to build a global logistics network jointly with ZIM and other ecological partners and reshape global logistics industry standards. The strategic cooperation between ZIM and Alibaba.com will provide customers with stable, efficient and visible cross-border supply chain solutions, and provide strong support for the explosive growth of the global digital trade.”

ZIM has been targeting e-commerce shipments of late. In June it debuted its ZIM eCommerce Xpress, a speedy 12-day transpacific sailing, catering for the massive growth in e-commerce shipments.

Alibaba has a host of tie-ups with liners formed in recent years including with Maersk, Cosco, Evergreen and CMA CGM. It has had an earlier space booking agreement with ZIM, in place since 2017.