SIMIC

Operating six times a week, the sea freight allows Korean consumers to receive parcels in five days for selected products after placing orders on AliExpress, with some areas as fast as three days . Upon leaving ports in Shandong Province, the cargo ship will arrive in South Korea within 12 hours, reducing shipping costs by up to 30 per cent.

"The launch of a direct sea freight route will accelerate the overall shipping efficiency from China to South Korea, further fuelled by our full-chain logistics services including digitalised customs clearance and last mile delivery," said William Xiong, Cainiao's chief strategist and general manager of exports logistics.

Cainiao's distribution centres are able to handle a peak volume up to 10 million orders, with cross-border network spanning over 200 Chinese cities, and more than 50 warehouses located in key cities to support exports.

In October 2020, Cainiao announced the launch of its logistics and supply chain services to support South Korean businesses. Leveraging its logistics technology and platform, Cainiao is able to connect merchants to logistics service providers to achieve greater cost efficiencies.

To further promote bilateral trade between South Korea and China, Cainiao inked an MOU with the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) to operate as the official logistics partner for small and medium-sized enterprises in South Korea in June 2021, the company said.