Forwarders not too concerned about Amazon Supply Chain Services for now

Amazon’s recent move to more aggressively offer its integrated third-party logistics services to external customers did not come as a surprise to the forwarding community and conventional forwarders say they are not too worried for now. “Honestly, we saw this coming,” Airforwarders Association Executive Director Brandon Fried told Cargo Facts . “Amazon has been building out its logistics infrastructure for years and consolidating those services under a single external-facing brand is a logical next step.” [caption id="attachment_57297266" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Amazon, FedEx and UPS all operate 767 freighters. (Photo/Cargo Facts)[/caption] Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS) now is available to all businesses globally, with Procter & Gamble, 3M and American Eagle Outfitters among the first to sign up, the e-commerce giant announced May 4. “Amazon is bringing the infrastructure, intelligence, and scale of its supply chain services—proven over decades—to businesses everywhere, much like Amazon Web Services did for cloud computing,” — Peter Larsen, vice president of Amazon Supply Chain Services. The e-commerce giant declined to comment. Years in the making The launch of ASCS by Amazon likely had been in the works for some time and the Airforwarders Association has watched its evolution closely, Fried said, noting that Amazon Air Cargo is an association member. Members that use Amazon Air Cargo to ship freight now find themselves in an interesting position, with vendor Amazon becoming a competitor. “That’s worth paying attention to, but ‘concerned’ might be too strong a word right now,” Fried said. Amazon is widely recognized in e-commerce logistics, but express freight “is a different animal,” and the e-tailer must build its presence in a sector filled with companies that have decades of institutional knowledge, global ground networks, expertise in customs and long-term relationships that do not transfer overnight, Fried said. While forwarders win on expertise, flexibility and accountability, what they should focus on is tightening their digital interfaces, because that is where Amazon “genuinely excels,” Fried said. Forwarders also should double down on the advisory relationship that technology alone cannot replace, given that shippers with complex, time-sensitive or regulated cargo still need a human expert in their corner, he said. “The answer isn’t to out-Amazon Amazon,” Fried said. Eden Prairie, Minn.-based C.H. Robinson, one of the largest freight forwarders in the world, declined to comment. Building market share Fried told Cargo Facts that Airforwarders Association members have not lost any customers to Amazon as of now. “They’re still establishing the product, defining the service parameters and building out the commercial relationships needed to compete at scale,” he said. “The impact, if it comes, is more likely to be gradual than sudden. Freight forwarding is a relationship business and shippers don’t typically move significant volumes to an unproven provider without a testing period first.” — Brandon Fried, executive director of Airforwarders Association. Amazon revealed clues to its strategy when it began selling unused capacity on its freighters in the fourth quarter of 2022. The e-commerce giant relaunched Amazon Shipping in 2023 to gain market share from UPS and FedEx in the third-party delivery service market. San Francisco-based forwarder Flexport, which also introduced its Flexport Parcel delivery service that year after acquiring Shopify Logistics and Deliverr, also declined to comment. UPS is in the final stages of halving the volume it transports for Amazon after reaching an agreement with the e-commerce giant in 2025. “Amazon is our largest customer, but it’s not our most profitable customer,” UPS Chief Executive Carol Tome said during the company’s 2024 full-year earnings call in January 2025, announcing the move. Amazon accounted for 8.8% of UPS’ total revenue earned in the first quarter, down from about 13%, Tome said during the most recent Q1 earnings call on April 28. UPS and Amazon implemented a “boxless” and “lableless” process for the 19% of e-commerce deliveries that are returned and are committed to growing together, she said. ”We’re pleased where we are and we want to continue our relationship in the lucrative way that it's turning out to be,” Tome said. Meanwhile, FedEx does not appear to be overly concerned with Amazon’s announcement either. FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam said in a CNBC interview last week that ASCS is "completely different" from FedEx's business model. FedEx offers a true end-to-end, global network, where someone can pick up something anywhere in the world and get it to any other part of the world in a couple of days. “For that, you need a system like what we have here and the networks around the world,” he said. Expanding service Amazon began selling additional capacity on its 767 freighters flying to Quito (UIO), Ecuador, from Miami (MIA) to Avianca Cargo after launching daily charter service between MIA and Bogota (BOG) with the Colombian carrier in April 2025. The e-tailer began managing the distribution of belly cargo flown by Air Premia from Incheon (ICN) to Honolulu (HNL) to cities across the United States in July 2025 after reaching an interline agreement with the South Korean carrier. As Amazon enters the freight forwarding space, the e-commerce giant continues to expand its widebody and narrowbody freighter fleet that includes: Three production 767-300Fs , eleven 767-300BDSFs and one 767-300BCF the e-tailer owns; Forty-nine 767-300BCFs and -300BDSFs leased from CAM and Titan Aviation Leasing; Ten A330-300P2Fs leased from IAT Leasing; One A330-300P2F that it owns and will soon receive from conversion; Twenty-two 737-800BCFs leased from AerCap; and Seven 737-800SFs leased from Aero Capital Solutions. Even with its freighter fleet supporting the launch of ASCS, Amazon still is a few years from challenging incumbents in the freight forwarding industry. Amazon will need to demonstrate consistent performance on international lanes, develop its customs clearance capabilities country by country and earn the trust of cargo owners and shippers on high-value and time-critical freight, Fried said. “None of that is impossible for a company with Amazon’s resources, but the timeline is measured in years, not quarters,” he said. “Right now, the competitive impact on UPS, FedEx and the large forwarders is likely to be incremental. “Five years from now, that calculus could look different.”

Forwarders not too concerned about Amazon Supply Chain Services for now

E-commerce giant could still be years away from competing with express, forwarding giants

SkyGuard launches 757 freighter routes from Hong Kong

Western Global to resume MD-11F operations this weekend

Related Posts

FedEx tops estimates while warning of trade policy pressure

FedEx’s Richard Smith to participate in main fireside chat at Cargo Facts Symposium 2026

UPS boosts Mexico automotive network

Western Global to resume MD-11F operations this weekend

Stay informed with our newsletters

Cargo Facts Connect Podcast

Follow Us

Welcome Back!

Retrieve your password