Are there risks of multiple freight forwarders going bankrupt? The companies involved solemnly declare: These are all rumors!

Customs statistics show that in 2022, the scale of China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports exceeded 2 trillion yuan for the first time, reaching 2.1 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.1%, of which exports were 1.53 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.1%.

The above data directly shows that cross-border e-commerce is still maintaining a rapid growth momentum and is injecting new impetus into the development of foreign trade. However, opportunities always coexist with risks. In the cross-border e-commerce industry, which contains huge development opportunities, cross-border sellers often need to face many risks that come with it, such as service providers’ failure to affect accounts, and strikes affecting delivery...

It is learned that according to foreign media reports, on June 16, the largest American International Truck Drivers Union (Teamsters) voted on whether UPS employees "agree to launch a strike action."

The voting results showed that 97% of the more than 340,000 UPS employees represented by the Teamsters union agreed to the strike. That is , if the Teamsters and UPS cannot reach a new agreement before the contract expires (July 31), the Teamsters will most likely organize employees to hold the largest UPS strike since 1997.

▲ The picture comes from foreign media

It is understood that the contract previously signed by the Teamsters and UPS will expire on July 31, 2023. Therefore, since the beginning of May this year, UPS and the Teamsters have been negotiating on the UPS worker contract, with the main negotiation issues focusing on higher wages, creating more full-time jobs, and eliminating UPS's reliance on low-paid delivery drivers.

At present, the Teamsters union and UPS have reached more than two preliminary agreements on their contracts, but for more UPS employees, the most important issue of salary has not been resolved. Therefore, the Teamsters recently held the strike vote mentioned above.

According to Pitney Bowes, a global shipping and logistics company, UPS delivers about 25 million packages every day, accounting for about a quarter of the total parcel volume in the United States , and there is currently no express delivery company in the market that can replace UPS.

It can be seen that once the above-mentioned strike action is launched, the peak season supply chain in the United States will undoubtedly be seriously disrupted, and even have a devastating impact on the economy that relies on its distribution infrastructure . Cross-border e-commerce is one of the industries that will be hit the hardest. For cross-border sellers, this is simply making the already serious delays in logistics and transportation worse.

However, as of now, it is still unclear whether the strike will actually take place. UPS said in a statement: The voting result does not mean that a strike is imminent, nor will it affect UPS's current business operations in any way . UPS will continue to make progress on key issues and firmly believes that an agreement will be reached with the union.

At present, the most important thing for all cross-border sellers is to successfully warehouse the goods before the Member Day cut-off date, always pay attention to the transportation track of the goods, and make risk assessments and preventive measures.

However, it is worth noting that while sellers are preparing in full swing on the eve of Membership Day, the domestic cross-border logistics industry, which is already facing many problems, is still in turmoil.

It is learned that at the end of last month, the news that "a well-known cross-border logistics company in Shenzhen collapsed and a large number of orders in transit could not be processed" caused an uproar in the cross-border circle.

To date, the logistics company involved has not responded to this news, and a screenshot of a chat about "multiple freight forwarders going bankrupt" has been circulated in the cross-border industry. The whistleblower in the screenshot claimed that the four freight forwarders, Kai*, New*, Lian*, and Da*, have had a lot of goods seized by the United States, and sellers who have cooperated with them should stop losses in time.

▲ The picture comes from the seller’s disclosure

As soon as the news came out, it caused a lot of discussion among cross-border sellers.

Some sellers said that these four are large and well-known freight forwarding companies in the circle. It is a bit unreliable to say that they all collapsed at the same time. Is this an advertisement posted by other companies?

But some sellers believe that the US logistics industry is now strengthening supervision. No matter what, it is always better to be cautious.

As the news spread widely, it also attracted the attention of the companies involved. The three freight forwarders, Kai*, New* and Lian*, quickly issued solemn statements: the online rumors about the company's bankruptcy were all rumors, and if the rumormongers still "insist on their wrongdoings", the companies will take legal measures to protect their rights.

▲ The picture comes from the freight forwarder’s statement

It can be seen from the above responses that the three freight forwarding companies all believe that this rumor was maliciously fabricated by people with ulterior motives in an attempt to disrupt the market.

Judging from the circulated information, the revelation contains no other content except a chat screenshot. However, judging from the fact that a single screenshot can cause such widespread discussion in the cross-border circle, due to the frequent occurrence of freight forwarding company bankruptcy incidents, cross-border sellers are currently in a state of "seeing enemies everywhere" regarding news about freight forwarding companies.

At the same time, many discussions on how to choose a freight forwarding company have frequently been sparked in the circle.

After sorting out the discussions among sellers, we have summarized the following four suggestions for your reference:

Finally, Prime Day is just around the corner, and I sincerely hope that all sellers can choose high-quality freight forwarding companies, show their talents during Prime Day , and not be bothered by logistics and delivery delays.

What do you think of this? Welcome to discuss in the comments section~