Maersk, Alibaba team up to offer online booking

Maersk Line A/S, the world's largest container shipping line, has teamed up with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd to allow customers to reserve space on its vessels through the Chinese company, illustrating growing cooperation between e-commerce and logistics firms.

Maersk, a unit of Denmark's AP Moller-Maersk A/S, began offering the service to Chinese shippers on Shenzhen OneTouch Business Service Ltd's booking website on Dec 22, a spokeswoman for the shipping line said on Wednesday. OneTouch is a subsidiary of Alibaba.

Shippers traditionally go through freight forwarders to book space for goods on container vessels, but lines such as Maersk are allowing cargo owners to book directly via the internet.