Logistics is a very important part of cross-border e-commerce business, which directly determines whether the seller's goods can reach overseas consumers safely and on time. If there are problems in the logistics link, such as delay and loss of goods, the loss to the seller is also very large. Especially since the epidemic, logistics has been under constant pressure, and the frequency of problems has become higher. At the same time, new problems are also emerging.
Recently, a seller found Yeon.com and said that his entire container of goods had disappeared in the United States. It is not uncommon for goods to be lost in cross-border logistics, especially in a chaotic logistics environment, but it is very rare for whole containers to be lost.
As we all know, today's logistics price has been pushed to a high level, and port congestion is still continuing. In this case, such a large number of goods are stolen, which undoubtedly makes it worse for sellers. As the Spring Festival is approaching, the sellers have finished their goods, but they are worried about the logistics situation next year and the uncertainty of their business in the coming year.
The whole container of goods is missing in the United States, and there is still no explanation for more than four months
"Our goods were stolen, and the whole thing40HQ stolen! " A seller found Yeon.com a few days ago and said that it had been five months since their goods were confirmed stolen in the United States, but the issue of compensation had not been resolved. "This is a huge disaster for small and medium-sized sellers, and now we are also struggling on the verge of bankruptcy."
The seller said that,On April 30, 2021, he entrusted Amazon Global Logistics (AGL) to ship a 40HQ full container of goods to Amazon ONT8 warehouse in the United States, and arrived at the port of Los Angeles on May 19. The scheduled delivery time was May 26, butafterNo news has been updated. During the period, customer service was urged several times every week, but the reply was a new delayed delivery time, and the customer was told that the scheduled delivery time would be delayed because the warehouse was busy.
untilOn September 14, they received a new message via email, "AGL informed us that the entire container of our goods was stolen in the transit warehouse in the United States!!!"
The seller didn't expect it and waitedFor more than three months, such "bad news" came. It is reported that the value of the whole cabinet is 900,000 yuan, and the freight is more than 36,000 yuan. While shocked, they quickly applied for compensation, but the road was also extremely difficult.
First, the seller has entrustedAGL helped to purchase insurance, and AGL also said that the demand had been recorded, but in August, it told the seller that the purchase time of this insurance ticket had been missed, so it was obviously impossible to claim from the insurance company.
Second, as of press release,AGL also did not provide a compensation or solution. "We provided various materials according to their requirements, wrote no less than 40 emails, and communicated by phone no less than 20 times. Each time, we were told that different departments were communicating, the leaders were discussing, and the results were given next week, and then the next week was pushed forward, and the next week was followed by the next week. There was no progress."
The seller said that it was out of his trust in Amazon that he passedAGL transports goods, and their goods have been transported through this channel all the time. However, it is unexpected that goods are stolen now, and there is no way to claim for compensation.
All sellers know that the loss of goods will cause a chain reaction. In addition to the loss of goods, it will also lead to problems such as stock out, decline in storage capacity, loss of shopping carts, etc. The impact of the loss of the whole container is more serious.
The seller has experienced all the above. At the same time, he also found an angry and absurd thing among the sellers.Since September, he found that American sellers have been following their listing on Amazon one after another. Because the product itself is a private model, one of them has also obtained an American appearance patent. In order to make the complaint easier to succeed, the seller directly bought several products to follow, and found that this is exactly the product they were stolen“Even the barcode of our product has not been removed, it is just simplelandOverwrite!”
The seller said:"There are up to 15 co sellers, all of which are FBA goods." This means that,The goods stolen from Amazon Logistics are being sold on the Amazon platform, and the stolen goods are in the Amazon warehouse.
With solid evidence, Amazon's handling method has disappointed the seller:"We started to turn to different departments of Amazon to deal with this matter in September, and only in December did we get rid of the products we were selling with AGL."
In addition, the seller had to sell the shopping cart at a loss in order to win back the shopping cart after selling the shopping cart at a low price during the period120000 products, which resulted in a loss of more than 600000 yuan.
After calculation, the seller lost nearly1.6 million yuan. In addition, due to the shortage in the middle, the peak season sales were affected, leaving a pile of inventory. "The stolen product is our main link. There is already a large backlog of cross-border e-commerce funds. As small and medium-sized sellers, we have struggled to the brink of bankruptcy."
Cross border goods are frequently looted under the epidemic situation, and the sellers have words of distress
In fact, it is very common to lose goods. In various forums and industry groups, you can often see such roast from sellers:
"-- XXX advised you not to use it, and lost it crazily;
——It's a headache. The freight forwarder has lost the goods and still hasn't paid compensation. How should we deal with it;
——I really stepped into a big hole. The recently replaced freight forwarder not only delayed and refused, but also said that the goods were lost for various reasons. "
Recently, many sellers even reported that their goods had been delivered to the Amazon warehouse, but they still disappeared somehow. One of the sellers said that he had recently found that Amazon had been on less shelves in succession. The waybill number showed that it had been signed, and the invoice had also been provided. However, Amazon refused to admit or compensate, and the combined value of the goods was lostMore than 20000 yuan.
In addition to such sporadic loss of goods and pieces, like the above sellers, it is not uncommon for the whole container of goods to be stolen.In April 2021, a 40 foot container sent by four sellers to Toronto, Canada, was brazenly stolen together with the goods and car. When the local police found the stolen container, the goods were basically moved empty. In addition to the theft of full containers of goods, some goods and pieces are lost from time to time.
A recent Safewise survey found that more than 200 million packages are stolen every year across the United States, of which 53.9% are stolen from Amazon Express, 15.5% from FedEx and 11% from UPS.
In international trade, the risks of goods theft and loss are higher than those in China. Under the epidemic situation, the cross-border logistics environment is chaotic, and these risks are soaring.
American mediaOn January 13, it was reported that the freight containers on the Los Angeles railway tracks had been ransacked consecutively recently, and thousands of broken packages were scattered all over the placepackageIt is either empty or damaged. Some bags left on the site can be clearly seenThe word "prime". It is reported that most of these packages are from Amazon, UPS and other companies to the West Coast residents.
Any train in operation can be stolen, and the goods piled up in the port are more dangerous. Because the port's handling and transportation capacity of containers has declined, containers have piled up in large quantitiestoSome outlaws have provided opportunities.
There are more and more cargo thefts in Los Angeles and Long Beach. According to foreign mediaIn the first nine months of 2021, the amount of goods stolen at the Port of West America will reach 45 million US dollars. In the third quarter, the amount of goods stolen will be 5 million US dollars, 42% higher than that in 2020. Most of the stolen goods are electronic products and refrigerated food. Moreover, similar incidents have also increased in ports in Texas and Florida.
In general, after the goods are delivered, it is difficult for the seller to control them, especially in cross-border trade. As long as the goods do not arrive in the hands of consumers one day, various accidents may occur in the middle. In this process, in addition to selecting a high-quality and responsible logistics provider,The establishment of "insurance awareness" is also important. In international trade, buying insurance for your own goods can not only make up for some losses for the seller in case of accidents, but also avoid logisticsmerchantWrangle with each other.
Rolling in the logistics industryFang Zhenming, a logistics person and founder and CEO of Yunwujie in 2016, said that when goods are lost or stolen, sellers hope to transfer the risk to the logistics company. In the early stage, the logistics company also promised that the seller would make compensation, but in the end, they often fall into a state of wrangling, especially for products with high value, "Many sellers require the logistics company to provide full support, but the logistics company usually only earns 10% of the profits, and it is unrealistic to make full compensation. If only tens of thousands of dollars are compensated, they can earn back after several months, and they may or can afford to make compensation, but if they want to compensate hundreds of thousands, no one will be willing to."
He said that the healthy development of the cross-border e-commerce industry should be embedded in insurance to settle claims, rather than letting a logistics company that has no capacity to undertake to promise that once there is a loss of goods, insurance will be used to settle claims. This is a good way for both logistics companies and sellers to avoid risks and prevent late dispute.
But there is a problem in this processneedNote that the seller should handle the relevant matters of insurance purchase by himself,Do it in this way.On the one hand, prevent sellers like the aboveCome on like thatThe logistics company missed insuranceAboutOn the other hand, the logistics company buys insurance and transports the goods by itself, and then the goods are lost in its own hands. In the claim settlement process of the insurance company, everything is caused by its own behavior. The insurance company will make many difficulties in the claim settlement, and it is very difficult to compensate.
However, although many sellers also understand the importance of insurance, they still do not choose not to buy insurance. On the one hand, they feel lucky and feel that they will not be so unlucky; On the other hand, it is too troublesome to buy insurance, and the premium is expensive, and few insurance companies are willing to provide scattered insurance to sellers.
Obviously, in this case, it is very necessary to open the channel between logistics and insurance institutions. Just like buying air tickets, sellers can choose their favorite airlines on one platform. If they need to buy insurance, they can also buy it at the same time. The same is true in the cross-border e-commerce industry. Only by connecting with the logistics system can convenient insurance purchase be formed. In the case of the same platform and large amount, the premium may also decline.
In 2022, the freight rate will remain high and congestion will still exist
In addition to the fact that goods are more likely to be stolen and lost, under the epidemic situation, sellers are also overwhelmed by soaring logistics prices and congested global logistics. As the Spring Festival approaches, the seller has already delivered all the goods before the year, but he is worried about the logistics situation next year.
In the United States, the seller's main market, although it was speculated that the worst period of supply chain disruption may have ended, port officials said,stayAt the beginning of the 2022 New Year, there is no sign that the import surge will stop. Although some ports have indicated that they can successfully handle the backlog of container ships, there is no sign of a decrease in the number of ships going to Southern California ports.
Southern California Ocean Exchange（The first report of the New Year of Marine Exchange of South California also confirmed that little progress has been made in reducing the backlog. The report shows that there are 16 ships in the anchorage or within a 40 mile radius outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Another 89 ships registered their arrival time and slowly headed for Southern California. There are 105 container ships sailing to the terminals of two ports.
In addition, American mediaOn January 6, the message showed that,shareSeventy one thousand empty containers are docked at the wharf, and ten thousand standard containers are docked at the yard outside the wharf. More than two-thirds of containers stay for 9 days or more.
Marine intelligence(sea intelligence),The degree of terminal congestion at major container ports in the United States and Europe has reached a new high, and there is no sign of improvement due to the continuous growth of demand for goods outside Asia.
The maritime data companyAccording to a statement on January 11, the latest data shows that 11.5% of the global operating capacity will not be available in November 2021, which will only decrease by less than 1% that month. This is higher than the normal 2% standard.
European ports are particularly congested, since last yearIt has been increasing since October, and there are no positive signs.
With the increase of flight delay and terminal deceleration, the freight rate also rises. Platts Container Freight Index(Platts Container Rate Index) After falling back from the historical high in the fourth quarter, it has been on the rise since the middle of December, and has risen by 7% since December 14. On January 11, PCRI assessed that it was USD 7140.17/FEU, up nearly 65% year on year.
So many sellers expectIn 2022, the logistics price will drop sharply, and it may even go back to 2019, which is unlikely to be realized. Fang Ke, the general manager of Shenzhen Anjun Logistics Co., Ltd., who has more than ten years of experience in this field, thinks so.
Fang Ke believes that high prices cannot be changed in the short term,"The price of renting ships, buying ships, renting airplanes and buying airplanes has not come down. For example, the price of renting airplanes in 2021 will rise to 2 to 3 times that in 2019. The cost is here, and the price of crude oil is also at a high level. It is impossible to complete large-scale recovery in 2022."
Especially in the United States, the epidemic situation is repeated, and the number of infected people isAt the beginning of January, it kept hitting new highs. Under the influence of the epidemic, its domestic low-end production chain was difficult to recover, and its supply chain was incomplete, so it still needed to rely on China. Therefore, Fang Ke believed that the supply and demand relationship had not changed fundamentally, which was also the reason why the logistics price could not fall in the short term,However, it will have a fluctuation value, that is, the price reduction will not be lower than25% in 2021, and the price rise will not be higher than 20%.
Fang Zhenming expressed the same view,"High prices have become a norm, and will not change so quickly in 2022. In addition, shipping companies are the biggest players in the soaring freight rates. However, the high profits in recent years are too tempting for shipping companies, so prices will not return to the previous passive state soon.”
"Before, shipping companies used to look for customers everywhere with their positions, but now they don't need to." In Fang Zhenming's opinion, now that the shipping company has turned its passivity into initiative, it will not give up easily
Although, with the increasing number of cross-border logistics practitioners, the competition is becoming more and more fierce. In order to get customers, there will be a phenomenon of killing the price, but from the dealer's perspective, the price will not decrease. Fang Ke predicted that the real decline of logistics price would beIn 2023, "In 2023, the epidemic may not be completely controlled, but the supply chains of Europe, the United States and Latin America will recover. In this case, there will be less dependence on Chinese products, and freight rates will gradually decrease."
On the issue of port congestion, they also said thatThere will be improvement in 2022, but it will not be fundamentally solved.
Among them, Fang Zhenming said that the logistics congestion problems are all in foreign countries, such as the United States, and they will also see problems affecting people's livelihood in the long run,"The epidemic will not change, and people can adapt to the epidemic. So after two years of precipitation, people will adapt to it and slowly adapt to the actions in the epidemic under normal conditions, but the effect will not be very good, just to say that it has improved."
Write at the end:
In 2021, many cross-border people will use the word "difficult" to summarize the logistics: Suez Canal is blocked, Los Angeles/Long Beach Port is blocked, container rates are soaring, Yantian Port Area and some ports in Ningbo Port have been closed due to the epidemic... All these are a great challenge for cross-border sellers and logistics providers. Not only did it not improve as expected in 2020, but in the process, because of the tight transport capacity, the freight rate was continuously increased, and at the same time, many problems were exposed, such as air dispatch to sea transportation, Meisen Waypu, etc.
However, although the epidemic has disrupted the circulation order of the whole goods, the things it brings to cross-border e-commerce sellers are the same, everyone is at the same starting point, soIn 2022, the most important thing for sellers is to calm down, not to blindly compete at low prices and plan their operations. At the same time, it should be noted that we must adjust the goods preparation strategy according to the logistics situation, make a good delivery plan, and adapt to the new delivery environment under the epidemic situation.
In addition, under the epidemic situation, the economies of many European and American countries are declining. In addition, Westerners have no concept of saving money. A bad economic environment will lead to unemployment, and then there will be no savings. Therefore, strikes, protests and other activities will still occur from time to time. under these circumstances,Delay, theft and robbery are particularly prone to occur, and the seller should pay attention to the development of preventive measures.