From The Blue Skies To The High Seas; Amazon Follows Up Blimp Fulfillment Centers With Ocean Freighters

It is far from a secret that Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN is pouring billions of dollars into growth initiatives wherever they may present itself.

On Wednesday, the public learned of a new initiative: ocean freight.

From Blimps To Barges?

According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is acting as a global freight forwarder and third-part logistics provider in order to better handle products from Chinese merchants destined to its U.S. warehouses.

Although Amazon doesn't own or operate the ships directly the company is taking a more active approach, which was previously relied on by global freight-transporting companies.

Ocean Audit, an ocean-freight specialist firm, told WSJ that Amazon has helped ship at least 150 containers of goods from China dating back to October 2016.

Amazon's initiatives in the space became more apparent this month when it began posting rates for new services including sorting, labeling and trucking shipments that were typically completed by freight companies.

Amazon even used the name of its Chinese subsidiary, Beijing Century Joyo Courier Service Co.

"Amazon has integrated all those services into one basket," Steve Ferreira, chief executive of Ocean Audit told WSJ, while adding this adds "a lot of strategic value" to Amazon.

Surprised? Don't be. This may pale in comparison to Amazon's plans to operate a floating or flying warehouse. The company has apparently patented the idea of creating an airborne facility, which will be hovering at a height of 45,000 feet and uses drones to deliver goods.