Eastern Air Logistics (EAL), the logistics arm of China Eastern Airlines, the first all-cargo airline in China, has announced a new partnership with WebCargo by Freightos, the leading cargo booking and payment platform, to deliver eBooking and payments to global forwarders of all sizes. This partnership provides a seamless, end-to-end solution for customers looking to move cargo from the largest global export country to the West, beginning with ex-China coverage to North America, Europe and Asia, and from Europe to China. Eastern Air Logistics was first made available for bookings on WebCargo last week.

Through this partnership, EAL gains access to WebCargo's extensive network of over 10,000 freight forwarding offices that already conduct thousands of bookings every day. WebCargo's platform allows EAL to streamline their booking and payment processes, and expand their customer base with an easy and efficient way to price, book, and pay for air freight in just minutes. Freight forwarders around the world have enthusiastically adopted eBookings; at least five large European countries already see 10% of their air cargo being booked via WebCargo.

EAL brings substantial capacity to China's export and import routes, backed by its subsidiary's domestic and foreign sites and branches, including China Cargo Airlines, Eastern Airlines Express, Eastern Transport, and Eastern Supply  Chain as well as a number of branches at home and abroad. With 16 full cargo freighters from China Cargo Airlines, belly space of nearly 800 passenger airplanes from China Eastern Airlines, and the airline resources backed by SkyTeam Alliance, EAL expands its global network to 1088 destinations in 184 countries and regions around the world.

Air freight is the preferred mode of transport for the global economy’s high-value manufactured goods, such as semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, aerospace components, and some foods. Therefore, smooth access to air cargo services between China, Europe, and the United States is critical to global supply chains. With this new partnership, European and US-based freight forwarders gain exclusive access to EAL’s air cargo offerings through WebCargo, including WebCargo Pay, which enables modern payments by freight forwarders using both credit lines or pre-paid wallet functionality, where possible, across leading global airlines.

“Digital is the way forward. Our digital sales platform EOS, which laid the foundation for this cooperation, is built on top of technology initiatives such as the Shanghai Pudong Airport Smart Logistics. Partnering with WebCargo means EAL will continue to grow and expand its global customer base by providing forwarders seamless access to our considerable capacity exporting from and importing to Shanghai, and competitive rates”, said Jonathan Xu, General Manager of Logistics Solutions Business Dept. at EAL.

“This partnership is great news for every freight forwarder. No other platform offers booking and payment access to EAL’s capacity”, said Joyce Tai, Freightos’ EVP of Worldwide Partnerships. “Through EAL, we can offer our customers even more options for air freight between China and the West, with credit lines and seamless wallet functionality that will get cargo booked and paid for in minutes.” 

Forwarders booking with EAL will continue to benefit from WebCargo’s combination of real-time rates and booking with online payments, helping forwarders to quickly book and reconcile payments with EAL, as well as with other carriers.