DHL and Alibaba partner to streamline cross-border trade with AI logistics

DHL Group and Alibaba.com have agreed to work together on an artificial intelligence-led logistics service aimed at making international trade easier for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Under a memorandum of understanding announced at Alibaba.com’s CoCreate 2026 conference in Los Angeles, the two companies said they will explore bringing DHL Global Forwarding’s quotation and booking functions into Alibaba.com’s Accio platform, an agentic AI system designed to support ...

If developed, the integration would allow SMEs to obtain live freight forwarding quotes, compare shipping choices and arrange shipments within a more automated workflow. The companies say the wider ambition is to reduce the friction that often comes with cross-border commerce, from sourcing suppliers through to booking and shipment fulfilment.

Katja Busch, DHL’s chief commercial officer and head of DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation, said many smaller firms still struggle with the rules and paperwork that accompany overseas expansion. She said the partnership is intended to test how technology can help companies spend less time on complexity and more on growth.

Kuo Zhang, president of Alibaba.com, said AI is changing access to global trade by making capabilities once reserved for larger businesses more available to smaller ones. He said Accio is meant to help firms move from identifying opportunities to actually executing trade.

Tim Robertson, executive vice president for accelerated digitalisation at DHL Global Forwarding, said customers increasingly expect logistics to be as seamless as other digital business services. He said the collaboration could improve speed, visibility and efficiency by combining AI tools with DHL’s global network.

The companies described the proposed DHL functionality as the first in a wider set of logistics tools they may develop together.

Source: Noah Wire Services