Amazon plans to offer air freight service for Chinese sellers

Amazon is planning to offer air cargo service for its Chinese sellers, suggests the Amazon Logistic site, in a move to expand its business as a freight forwarder and third-party logistics company. This would also put Amazon in direct competition with rivals like United Parcel Service and Deutsche Post DHL group.

The Logistic site outlines how Amazon is pushing its plan to one day haul, deliver packages and cargo for other sellers and for itself.

A spokeswoman for Amazon told the Wall Street Journal that the company's offerings vary depending upon the country, adding: "In China, we offer Amazon Logistics+ to provide operational support to companies of all sizes."

However, it remains unclear if Amazon would use airspace through other carriers or its own planes.

Its Logistic site focuses on Chinese consumers selling their products on its site. It says it offers end-to-end one-step ocean freight services and that "we currently are developing this service and plan to quickly introduce it to a large number of our sellers".

The site states Amazon can do pickups, warehousing, line-haul transportation, delivery and handle import and export needs. The delivery destinations include the US, Europe and Japan.

"Our solution provides a world-class service offering. As part of one of the world's leading e-commerce companies, our operations team has strong experience in providing professional logistics solutions. With our own strong logistics volume, we can reduce your operational costs," Amazon says on the site.

The company has already begun shipments of goods by ocean to its US warehouse from Chinese sellers who are selling on its site.

Ryan Peterson, chief executive of Flexport, a San Francisco-based freight-forwarder, said Amazon's entry into the market is "a huge wake-up call to an industry that's been very slow to adopt technology".