Beijing: The Ministry of Transport has announced the launch of Myships.com, a vessel-tracking website developed by China Transport Telecommunications & Information Centre (CTTIC), an affiliate company of the ministry.
The website is co-developed with ecommerce giant Alibaba’s subsidiary Aliyun Cloud Computing, a cloud computing service provider, which has opened its data to public users.
According to CTTIC, the site is able to track the real time position and past sailing information of up to 300,000 vessels around the globe. It also provides a maritime weather forecast service including severe weather alerts.
Chinese shipping companies have started to invest in the IT sector in order to gain better supply chain visibility. China Shipping Group and Cosco Group have both teamed up with Alibaba to develop their online information platforms.
Liu Xifu, vice general manager of Alibaba North China, said the company is still exploring the opportunities in the shipping sector and is going to expand its presence in the sector this year.
