DHL GROUP and Alibaba.com will evaluate how AI-powered tools can support customers throughout their international trade journey, from sourcing and supplier discovery through to logistics quotation, booking and shipment execution, with the aim of making cross-border trade simpler, faster and more accessible.

Katja Busch, chief commercial officer at DHL and head of DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation, said SMEs are the backbone of the global economy but often struggle with the complex rules and requirements of international expansion. She said the partnership aims to explore how technology can help businesses spend less time managing complexity and more time focusing on growth.

As part of the collaboration, DHL and Alibaba.com will explore integrating DHL Global Forwarding’s logistics services into Accio, Alibaba.com’s agentic AI platform. Accio is designed to give SMEs a no-code, plug-and-play taskforce to support their operational needs. Through the integration, Accio would connect to DHL Global Forwarding’s quotation and booking capabilities, allowing businesses to obtain real-time freight forwarding quotes, compare shipping options and book shipments more easily. It is the first in a planned suite of DHL logistics capabilities intended to automate business tasks and help SMEs scale.

Kuo Zhang, president of Alibaba.com, said AI is changing how businesses take part in global trade, making capabilities that once required significant time and resources more accessible to SMEs, and that connecting Accio with DHL’s logistics network could help lower barriers to cross-border commerce.

Tim Robertson, executive vice president for accelerated digitalisation at DHL Global Forwarding, said customers increasingly expect logistics to be as seamless as the rest of their business activities, and that the collaboration would explore how AI could offer faster access to information, greater transparency and more efficient logistics processes.