Yesterday, the editor saw many sellers showing off their snow products on WeChat Moments. As the cold winter approaches, the Christmas peak season is also coming.

But the winter that sellers have been looking forward to does not seem to be as warm as they imagined. On the one hand, the temperature drops sharply, and on the other hand, accidents keep happening, making sellers feel unprecedented coldness.

Affected by the cold weather, the epidemic situation abroad continues to escalate, and the series of chain reactions caused by the bad weather are destroying cross-border e-commerce logistics at the fastest speed.

US blizzard warning: logistics will be delayed

It is learned that according to the forecast of AccuWeather, a US weather forecast company, the northeastern United States will usher in a blizzard, which is very likely to seriously affect logistics and transportation, including the delivery of USPS, UPS and FedEx packages.

It is understood that once a snowstorm closes a regional hub or major transportation route, the entire logistics network will be affected for only one day, and may even affect goods shipped to other regions. Order packages shipped to affected areas may be intercepted on the way until the backlog of goods is cleared.

If the snowstorm is too severe, it will be difficult or even impossible for logistics companies to deliver goods on time. For sellers in the affected areas, since previous transportation delays have affected the three major package delivery services in the United States, this storm will deal a fatal blow to logistics transportation during the peak season.

Therefore, sellers should be prepared for logistics delays and pay close attention to the weather forecast in the next few days.

Speaking of logistics, there have been quite a few reports about logistics recently. First, DHL suspended receiving goods, and then the US Federal Reserve delayed picking up goods. The recent frequent accidents have made the back-end logistics even worse.

Some time ago, a major accident of a large container ship losing cargo attracted the attention of many people in the industry. As if misfortunes never come alone, the accident of container sinking happened again, which made many sellers sweat.

According to Shipping Network, at around 23:00 on December 13, 2020, a container ship "OCEANA" with a capacity of 1,740 Teu collided with the container ship "Xinqisheng 69" near the D15 light buoy in the North Channel of the Yangtze River Estuary due to a main engine failure, causing the "Xinqisheng 69" to take on water and capsize and sink. A total of 16 Chinese crew members on the "Xinqisheng 69" were in distress.

In response to this accident, Pan Asia Shipping released a statement on December 14, saying that the "Xin Qisheng 69" was on its way from Xiamen to Nantong, near Beicao in the Yangtze River Estuary waterway, at the approximate position of 31-07.204N122-16.328E, when it collided with the foreign ship "OCEANA" which had a main engine failure.

Due to this accident, all navigation in the Yangtze River estuary is temporarily closed, which is expected to cause shipping delays. Sellers who are planning to ship by sea recently need to be more careful.

In addition to the container sinking accident, the logistics situation during this peak season has been maddening. Port congestion, container pick-up delays, and a series of problems have followed one after another. Many sellers have been affected and are out of stock.

Port congestion and warehouse explosion are serious

One seller summarized the recent logistics situation, which resonated with many peers.

“Container pickup is delayed, customs inspections are ongoing, warehouses are overwhelmed at the terminal, and federal pickup is delayed.”

▲ Image source: Weibo

Each and every one of these things affects the sellers' subsequent operational plans. As the Christmas peak season is about to arrive, many sellers are held back by logistics and are in tears.

Some sellers also asked on the forum: Do sellers who shipped goods from Canada need to wait about two months for the sea freight they sent last month to be signed for? Is this time limit normal?

▲ Image source: Zhiwubuyan

The seller said that the goods were shipped on November 13 and now they cannot be moved, which resulted in a large number of complaints from sellers:

"The freight forwarder said that the UPS warehouse was overwhelmed and they would not accept the goods. Then they sent the reservation card, but there has been no response so far."

"Is there still such a thing as normal now? Forget it."

"UPS is paralyzed, and ocean freight is currently overwhelmed."

In fact, it is not just the logistics situation in Canada and the United States that is poor. The situation at British ports is also equally tense in recent days.

It is understood that due to the severe epidemic in Europe and many uncertain factors such as Brexit, major ports in the UK are currently experiencing serious congestion. In addition, there are reports that 2M Alliance partners Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Company will abandon Felixstowe and call at Liverpool instead, and major shipping companies will cancel hub port berthing! So sellers who have shipments to the UK recently must pay attention!

A freight forwarder said: During the peak season, the time advantage of express delivery is shown, and sellers should try to use express delivery if possible.

Sellers can also choose their own delivery channels according to their own circumstances, and should also pay more attention to local news to avoid out-of-stock during the peak season. I wish everyone can get through this slightly difficult winter as they wish.

From December 18th to 19th, we will participate in the 2020 China (Yiwu) 7th Cross-border E-commerce Export Summit Forum and Cross-border E-commerce Export Supply Chain Product Selection Matchmaking Meeting.

This conference will break through the ecological barriers of cross-border e-commerce platforms, cross-border source factories, sellers and service providers, and enable "good sources" to find "good sellers", "good sellers" to find "good platforms", "good platforms" to find "good factories", and "service providers" to find "good sellers".

Here comes the point. I hope all sellers will be aware of the following information:

Time: 2020-12-18 09:00 to 2020-12-19 17:00

Location: Exhibition Hall, 3rd Floor, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Yiwu, Jinhua, Zhejiang

Organizer: WinShare

Booth No.: E2-133

See you at booth E2-133 on December 18-19!

Please long press the QR code below to sign up~