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Easter is approaching, and cross-border sellers are busy preparing for the holiday, hoping that the number of orders will "revive" as the name of the holiday suggests. However, in recent days, the cross-border logistics, which has been in trouble, has brewed a new storm, adding another stumbling block to the sellers' road to explosive orders. Urgent notice! Two major container ports in the United States have been closed
It is learned that according to foreign media reports, at 5 pm local time on April 6, the two major container ports in the United States, Los Angeles and Long Beach, issued a notice to the transportation industry that the terminals had been temporarily closed due to unforeseen circumstances.
At the same time, many freight forwarders issued urgent notices to sellers regarding this incident: Due to the temporary closure of two major ports in the United States, involving 12 terminal areas, it is currently known that only the Matson Terminal can perform normal container pickup operations, and other terminals are no longer able to pick up containers. Some freight forwarders also reminded sellers that ordinary ship cargo that arrived at the port this week but has not yet been picked up may result in cancellation of contracts and changes to contracts . It is expected that concentrated unloading and picking up of containers will cause congestion, which may affect the operation of containers arriving at the port in the following week, causing delays ranging from 3 to 7 days. Judging from the above situation, logistics delays for cross-border sellers whose goods pass through these two ports seem to be a foregone conclusion. This is undoubtedly another heavy blow to sellers who are already suffering from logistics problems. As for the reasons for the sudden shutdown of the ports , the two major ports did not specify in the notice, but according to speculation from foreign media and industry insiders, the temporary closure of the terminals may be due to an unforeseen emergency event in which the trade union organized a temporary strike , resulting in a serious shortage of labor at the terminals , necessitating a temporary closure. It is learned that on May 10, 2022, labor-management negotiations between West Coast terminal operators and unions officially began, focusing on issues of salary and terminal automation, and negotiating new labor contracts for 22,000 West Coast dock workers whose contracts expired on June 30, 2022. It has been nearly a year since then, and the two sides have still not reached a consensus in the negotiations. Industry insiders speculated that the union's temporary strike was also due to the current deadlock in the negotiations. Since the West Coast ports of the United States had previously been deadlocked due to labor-management negotiations, resulting in large-scale interruptions and delays in the flow of goods, most logistics companies and sellers are looking forward to the early conclusion of the negotiations so that port logistics can resume normal operations. As of now, there is no accurate information on when the terminals of these two major ports will resume operations . The relevant departments are handling the situation urgently and will continue to pay attention to follow-up news so as to inform all sellers in a timely manner. In addition, the frequent strikes are based on the industry's speculation about the temporary closure of the port - a strike organized by trade unions, which is also associated with the recent frequent strikes in Amazon warehouses. Strikes frequently occur in Amazon's UK warehouses!
It is learned that according to foreign media reports, on March 31, the British GMB trade union stated that due to salary disputes, more than 560 employees at Amazon's Coventry warehouse will strike again from April 16 to 18 and April 21 to 23 . According to reports, this is the third strike organized by the union this year . In January this year, Amazon UK employees held their first strike, followed by another seven-day strike in February and March. It is understood that under pressure from the strike, Amazon also stated at the end of March that it expected to increase the minimum starting salary of its UK business employees to between £11 and £12 per hour, starting in April. But the move once again angered the GMB union, which was demanding a substantial pay increase. The organization called Amazon's pay increase "an insult" and said that in response, it would hold consultations in the coming days and announce a new round of action, namely the six-day strike in April mentioned in the news. It is also worth noting that the union recently revealed that it will begin holding employee ballots for strike action at five logistics centers in central England , including Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire, to add another boost to the strike action calling for Amazon to raise wages. At present, compared with the temporary port closure mentioned above, these strike actions at Amazon warehouses have not yet had a significant impact on the logistics efficiency of Amazon's UK site, and sellers on the UK site do not need to worry too much for the time being. However, we would like to remind relevant sellers to pay attention to logistics information in a timely manner, keep in touch with freight forwarders, and replenish stocks in a timely manner in order to confirm the delay time of goods, notify relevant buyers, and reduce the impact on sales. What do you think about this? Welcome to discuss in the comment area~
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