In its final form, the network will provide a platform for member organizations to trade, network and use educational tools, WCA says. Members can also offer logistics services back to the network, backed by the WCA's financial protection program.

“The response has been phenomenal,” said Dan March, WCA’s CEO. “We have been approached by a number of the world’s largest internet retailers and online marketplaces.”

In 2017, WCA eCommerce plans to add benefits, including e-commerce shipment insurance, e-commerce-specific IT solutions, preferred rates on global and domestic last-mile and courier services, and regional e-commerce consolidation programs.

WCA started out as a network of independent freight forwarders that consolidated resources in 1998 to realize the sort of rates that their larger competitors can leverage through economies of scale. Its latest effort to open the doors to e-commerce companies is a response to projections that 20 percent of freight forwarding will be driven by online activity by 2020.

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