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Amazon operating as global freight forwarder

The Wall Street Journal has revealed that Amazon has ventured into shipping, having discovered that the commerce giant has been handling the logistics of shipment of its goods from China-based merchants selling on its site to its US warehouses.
At least 150 containers have been shipped by ‘Amazon Logistics’ since the arrangement began in October 2016, the WSJ reports. The company does not own its own ships, rather it is acting as a freight forwarder and third-party logistics provider, booking space of ocean-bound vessels itself instead of through a middleman.
Ryan Peterson, CEO of logistics company Flexport, revealed back in January 2016 that Amazon China had been granted a licence from the US Federal Maritime Commission to ship ocean freight cargo.
“The role of the freight forwarder, which is what Flexport is, and which is the license that Amazon got, is to coordinate that complexity; to string it together,” Peterson told GeekWire in March. “It doesn’t mean they’re going to own ships or planes, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see that Jeff Bezos has those ambitions.”
Amazon, under the name of its Chinese offshoot – Beijing Century Joyo Courier Service Co. – reportedly began posting rates for sorting, labelling and trucking shipments this month, services it has not previously provided and which are usually performed by freight companies.

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