Amazon has entered the trillion dollar ocean freight business
Specifically, the Seattle-headquartered ecommerce giant has started handling the shipment of goods from Chinese retailers that sell on its platform to its vast US warehouses. Previously it left this to global freight-transportation companies.
Since October, Amazon has helped to ship some 150 containers of goods from China to the US, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cites shipping documents collected at ports of entry.
Shipping is a trillion dollar industry, according to MIT Technology Review. While Amazon doesn't actually own any ships itself, it has started reserving space on ocean vessels and acting as a global freight operator and logistics organiser. Other freight operators include FedEx and UPS.
Last August, Amazon unveiled its first branded cargo plane, one of 40 jetliners that will make up the company's own air-transportation network. Amazon also has its own fleet of branded delivery trucks and it is testing delivery drones in a field just outside Cambridge.
Amazon shipped over a billion items over the 2016 holiday season alone, according to CNET.
Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
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