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Behind every "black swan" event, there is a lurking "gray rhino" crisis.
In 2024, after the wild growth carnival stage, cross-border e-commerce, which has returned to rationality, is driving related industries into a reshuffle period. As a key link in the chain, cross-border logistics is also experiencing multiple rounds of reshuffles from insufficient supply to oversupply, and "black swan" events of freight forwarding bankruptcy are emerging one after another. Recently, news of a Shenzhen freight forwarder going bankrupt spread in the industry. It is learned that according to industry insiders, on August 1, the legal person of Shenzhen Ju* Supply Chain Co., Ltd. was investigated by the Shenzhen Bao'an Branch on suspicion of fraud. Public information shows that the logistics company was established in 2018, and its business scope includes international freight forwarding, supply chain management, logistics distribution services, warehousing services, etc. Ran, who was investigated, is both the legal person and the boss of the company. It was observed that before this, the logistics company had been accused by a large number of peers and sellers on social platforms: "Oversized items were kept in overseas warehouses for eight or nine months without being delivered." "The customer went to the overseas warehouse but they refused to release the goods, saying they owed him money that had not been paid." "There has been no news about a batch of more than 600 kilograms of goods since last year, and the legal process is now underway." A logistics colleague revealed that Shenzhen Ju* Supply Chain often collected goods and money from peers, but did not pay when the goods were delivered to overseas warehouses, causing the goods of peers to be detained by overseas warehouses for a long time. This is a typical case of "taking money but not doing the job" . Some sellers also found that the logistics company was related to Shenzhen Xin* Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd. Many peers said that their oversized ocean freight was detained in overseas warehouses for more than half a year, and the docking was headed by Xin*, while the delivery was headed by Ju* . Therefore, as soon as the news that the legal person of the logistics company was under investigation came out, it quickly caused heated discussion. In addition to many industry insiders seeking "case filing tutorials", there are also reports that a series of "fraudulent" behaviors by the logistics company have caused a large number of peers' goods to be detained by overseas warehouses , which has caused huge economic losses. According to a logistics person, the amount of money he was defrauded of is as high as 700,000 . The case is still under investigation, and the above information is all from the industry. The specific information needs to wait for further results to be made public. But there is no doubt that the recent series of freight forwarding incidents are making more and more cross-border sellers feel uncomfortable. With the advent of the reshuffle of the cross-border e-commerce industry, the freight forwarding bankruptcy incident has the potential to change from a "black swan" to a "gray rhino". Since the beginning of this year, there have been many reports of freight forwarding bankruptcy in the industry: In March, Shenzhen *Tai Supply Chain was reported to have run away, and a Japanese logistics service company in Bantian, Shenzhen was unable to deliver goods; In June, a US-bound freight forwarder in Yiwu was exposed to bankruptcy, with 17 containers under its management seized by US customs and the person in charge missing. In July, Shenzhen Ze*, Shanghai*Shun Supply Chain, and Shanghai*Tu International Logistics successively collapsed; According to feedback from the industry, the above series of freight forwarding bankruptcy incidents involved multiple logistics delivery routes such as the United States, Europe, and Japan, which not only caused considerable economic losses to customers, but also brought a greater credibility crisis to the cross-border logistics industry. From the perspective of cross-border sellers, the current situation of freight forwarders going bankrupt is like a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, which may fall at any time. "What should I do if the freight forwarder I have cooperated with runs away ?" and "How to choose a freight forwarder that will not go bankrupt" have become hot topics in the industry. If we look into the reasons in detail, on the one hand, due to the increase in customs inspection rates, the bad problems in the freight forwarding industry, which used to be a mixed bag, are being exposed one by one , such as illegal declarations and safety certifications that do not meet regulations; on the other hand, as the dividend tide recedes, affected by the sluggish global trade growth and intensified competition, the profit margins of many logistics companies are under pressure , making it difficult to maintain normal operations. According to an industry survey report, in the first quarter of 2024, 73% of small and medium-sized freight forwarding companies saw a year-on-year decline in revenue. However, in the context of increasingly fierce competition, "low price" is not only the "entry ticket" for cross-border sellers and even Chinese e-commerce platforms to go overseas, but also a competitive weight among logistics companies . Therefore, even if revenue has declined, in order to grab limited market share, "buying goods at low prices to attract customers and then reselling at high prices to make a profit" is still an important strategy for many logistics companies to cope with the decline in freight volume. However, the result of the long-term implementation of this strategy is that many logistics companies eventually have difficulty maintaining normal operations due to broken capital chains or inability to adapt to market fluctuations, and may even have to run away. In this regard, some industry insiders pointed out that this is an inevitable process for the logistics industry to reshuffle after the e-commerce market returns to rational growth: in the long run, freight forwarding companies that have low business capabilities and weak risk resistance in the past will be eliminated at an accelerated pace, leaving only freight forwarding companies with relatively sufficient funds and strong risk resistance. But at the same time, some logistics professionals also said that the freight forwarding industry is now under high pressure. Low-price competition and broken capital chains have become the most common factors for freight forwarding companies to go bankrupt. Whether they are colleagues or sellers, they should be more vigilant when choosing logistics companies: low prices may bring temporary pleasure, but the freight forwarding company will eventually go bankrupt . The wheel of history rolls forward, and it is inevitable that the industry will undergo a reshuffle. However, in the process, only those who turn the rudder in time and grasp the right direction can avoid exiting the stage of the times prematurely. Have you heard of other freight forwarding failures recently? Feel free to share in the comments section~
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