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The year 2024 is coming to an end. Looking back on this year, affected by factors such as tightened supervision, the red ocean crisis and soaring freight rates, the freight forwarding industry has been hit by one crisis after another. Financial defaults, overdue payments, etc. have turned from "black swans" into "gray rhinos" events, and no longer surprise the industry. Just recently, there was news in the industry that a freight forwarder in Shenzhen was in arrears with payments to its peers, causing them a financial burden. It is learned that according to the latest news in the industry, a logistics company in Shenzhen issued an announcement about overdue payments from a freight forwarding company in the same industry. The announcement shows that the Shenzhen logistics company has undertaken the dedicated transportation business of xx Shenzhen Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. in the West, Central and East America (battery cargo), but since August 2024, xx Shenzhen Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. has repeatedly failed to pay the money on time. As of November 15, 2024, the cumulative overdue amount of xx Shenzhen Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "xx Shenzhen Supply Chain") has reached 130,547 yuan, which has caused great financial pressure on the normal operation of this Shenzhen logistics company. The announcement also mentioned that due to the long-term arrears of payment by xx Shenzhen Supply Chain, the above-mentioned Shenzhen logistics company had to suspend the shipment of its goods and temporarily store them in the warehouse. This measure also caused serious pressure on the warehouse operation of the Shenzhen logistics company and brought additional economic burden. To this end, the Shenzhen logistics company required xx Shenzhen Supply Chain to directly arrange for the receiving customer to connect with it, pay the relevant fees, and put forward the following conditions for releasing the goods: 1. The receiving customer needs to pay all outstanding freight charges for the order directly to the Shenzhen logistics company; 2. Pay the storage fees incurred due to the goods being detained in the warehouse for an extended period of time; 3. Bear the delivery costs and possible additional costs (such as labeling fees, etc.). It is worth mentioning that as of press time, xx Shenzhen Supply Chain has not given any relevant response . According to the investigation, xx Shenzhen Supply Chain was established in 2022 with a registered capital of RMB 500,000. It has not been in operation for a long time and has low working capital. Therefore, some sellers speculated that faced with this "mess", xx Shenzhen Supply Chain might have run away. In fact, such cases of freight forwarders defaulting on payments to peers have been common in recent years. For example, in July this year, a US-based logistics company in Shenzhen ran away and owed a large amount of money to peers. Many cargo owners were faced with the dilemma of either paying the money themselves to redeem the goods or having their goods detained at customs. In addition, during the period at the end of this year, many sellers and freight forwarders have successively revealed that some freight forwarding companies have run away in the past few days, and have abandoned the cabinets and goods of their peers, making freight forwarding seem like a "high-risk industry . " The continuous bankruptcies of freight forwarders reveal, to a certain extent, the arduous challenges faced by freight forwarders in the current environment. In 2024, changes in the overall environment are further accelerating the deep reshuffle of the freight forwarding industry. [Hardcore dismantling of brand practical cases, insights into new paths for overseas growth, all in "Brand Growth" click here] According to Qichacha data, from 2019 to 2023, the number of newly established freight forwarding companies in China has decreased year by year , from 89,000 to 15,900; while the cancellation rate has been rising year by year , among which the cancellation rate of freight forwarding companies established for 3-5 years has reached 51.4%. At the same time, the survey found that from January 1 to November 25, 2024, the number of newly registered freight forwarding companies was 10,100 . According to this data, the number of newly established freight forwarding companies in 2024 will also continue the downward trend of previous years. In addition, according to incomplete statistics in the industry, since 2024, the number of freight forwarding companies that have gone bankrupt due to "bankruptcy" has exceeded seventy. Previous articles have also reported on many freight forwarding companies that went bankrupt due to factors such as broken capital chains and goods being seized by customs. The reason for this is that, in addition to some unscrupulous freight forwarders taking advantage of the situation, the main reason is that freight forwarding companies generally face relatively severe operating pressure. On the one hand, in the oversupplied container shipping market environment, "low price" has become an important means of competition for freight forwarders. In order to compete for limited market share, freight forwarders in 2024 are still engaged in price wars to gain more choices from shippers. However, the risk of "taking goods at a low price" is extremely high and unsustainable. If you are not careful, you may fall into the abyss of supply chain disruption . Some freight forwarders even take risks and enter the gray area for "lower prices", making the industry chaos increasingly uncontrollable. On the other hand, there is the significant increase in shipping costs and the unpredictable international trade environment. In 2024, affected by the complex changes in global trade and supply chains, the shipping costs of many routes have risen significantly, further increasing the pressure on freight forwarders to advance funds. It is understood that not long ago, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and other shipping companies issued price increase announcements for December . In addition, the rising customs inspection rates in various countries and the uncertain tariff policies are also increasing the challenges faced by the freight forwarding industry. As the industry continues to clear out, more freight forwarders may leave the industry actively or passively in the future. Getting out of the current "low-price" vicious circle and improving their own risk resistance will inevitably be an important part of the future development of freight forwarders. What do you think about this? Have you heard of other freight forwarders going bankrupt recently? Welcome to discuss in the comments section~
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