On December 4, 2017, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. established a new maritime transportation matching platform business called "maruFreight, Inc." as a joint venture with major shipping-focused information service company Weathernews Inc. (WNI).

Global logistics is a growing market, and there is also plenty of room for optimization. In recent years, a number of companies have been created to utilize ICT to match supply and demand for diverse means of transportation. Until now, it has taken a lot of time and effort to make arrangements between shippers and tramper services in the maritime transportation industry. In response, we want to meet the needs of both shippers and shipping companies with simple and efficient matching procedures.

That's why Mitsui & Co. decided to partner with WNI, an industry insider whose information service has continuously evolved over the more than 30 years since its establishment. WNI's know-how will be the key to this transportation matching service targeted primarily at trampers. The service is scheduled for launch in July 2018 with a plan to initially focus on developing the European and U.S. markets, and subsequently expanding in stages to create global business.

maruFreight will offer a one stop service for arranging a sequence of trampers using WNI's superior know-how and data acquired from its shipping industry-focused information service and satellite automatic identification system (AIS) data. In addition to providing efficiency in the shipping business, the service will also aim to build optimal value chain from upstream to downstream, creating new value through the continuous utilization of IoT and big data.

Corporate Profile of Weathernews Inc. (As of December 1, 2017)