ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. and e-commerce platform, Alibaba.com, announced that they are extending their cooperation agreement for two more years which allows Alibaba.com sellers to book and purchase sea freight on ZIM and logistic services from ZIM Logistics China.

In a statement, ZIM said the deal would also now been expanded to include serving Alibaba.com buyers.

The international container liner said this collaboration helps Alibaba.com offer its customers a more affordable transit alternative relative to air freight available directly on the Alibaba.com platform.

The deal has been in place since 2020 and the significant growth of ecommerce and demand for freight capacity in the last year have led the parties to deepen their collaboration, ZIM said.

“Since we launched the initial agreement with Alibaba.com, it has proven to be a highly successful and mutually beneficial partnership. We continue to position ZIM as a leading ecommerce service provider, while creating significant advantages for customers,” said Eli Glickman, ZIM President & CEO.

“It is part of our innovative strategic vision, and we are very proud to extend and expand this partnership with Alibaba.com to enhance the customer experience and further capitalize on growing eCommerce trends,” he added.

For his part, Kuo Zhang, General Manager of Alibaba.com said its collaboration with ZIM is meant to enhance its “ecosystem” to be able to bring the best services to its global customers quickly.

“In the next phase of the collaboration, we can offer global buyers more options and choices to manage and optimize their supply chains, and to thrive and succeed in the massive global B2B eCommerce opportunity,” Zhang said.