Cainiao Network (Cainiao), the logistics arm of Alibaba Group Holding Limited, has announced that it partnered with South Korea's CJ Logistics to streamline and optimise cross-border deliveries between China and South Korea.
CJ Logistics is a subsidiary of CJ Group, whose businesses span four major industries: food and beverage, biotechnology, logistics, and entertainment and media.
In a statement, Cainiao said both parties are also in the midst of discussions with AliExpress to establish fulfilment centres in South Korea to further safeguard logistics services for local consumers.
"This partnership aims to enhance customer experience and quality of services by accelerating deliveries between China and South Korea to as fast as three days, with deliveries even on Sundays," Cainiao said.
It added that this would be achieved by combining CJ Logistics' expertise and range of logistics offerings in South Korea with Cainiao's cross-border logistics capabilities in areas such as domestic warehousing, line haul transportation and first-mile network.
CJ Logistics' South Korea network
Cainiao noted that CJ Logistics has an extensive infrastructure with strong logistics capabilities in South Korea including a mega logistics hub in Gonjiam, which it has owned and operated since 2018.
It has a total area of over 300,000 square meters and a daily parcel-handling capacity of up to 1.7 million.
It also has more than 274 distribution centres covering major cities across South Korea.
"Establishing partnerships with leading global e-Commerce partners such as AliExpress and Cainiao create opportunities for us to deliver greater value and better customer experience. In the future, we will continue to optimize cross-border fulfilment services and partnership frameworks to achieve mutual growth and to offer new overseas shopping services for consumers," said Shin Young Soo, CEO of Parcel E-Commerce Business Unit at CJ Logistics, at AliExpress' South Korea press conference.
Wang Ke, Asia Pacific regional manager of Cainiao International Express, also welcomed the partnership and said the move is a "step forward" in enhancing the China-Korea cross-border logistics.
"Here, Cainiao will be able further to optimize the logistics efficiency of the entire supply chain, especially when it comes to safeguarding delivery timeliness during major shopping festivals. This will enable us to deliver a customer experience and shipping guarantee that is on par with local eCommerce," Ke added.
Last year, China launched various initiatives to strengthen cross-border logistics between the two countries, such as the launch of a distribution centre and trucking line haul service in South Korea to expedite AliExpress deliveries from China.
Cainiao said these helped to reduce operating costs by 10% and save more than 12 hours in processing and handling time for South Korean-bound deliveries.
