Breaking news! 18 Amazon warehouses are out of stock! Two ports in the western United States are paralyzed! Sea freight prices rise to $10,000!

Black Friday is about to begin, but many sellers are not happy.

Container throughput at several U.S. ports surged in July, and by October, congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach worsened as a large influx of cargo during China's Golden Week holiday and a reduction in port dock workers to ensure safe distances during the epidemic.

Today, many freight forwarders posted on WeChat Moments saying that ZIM, Matsun, and Evergreen have all notified that due to the epidemic and severe labor shortage, the Los Angeles LA terminal and Long Beach LB port terminals in the United States have extended sailing times and caused port congestion, resulting in abnormally slow pickup times that are beyond your imagination. Please be mentally prepared.

According to the HTA, 10,000-15,000 containers are stranded at the terminal , severely hampering terminal operations. A number of factors have exacerbated the congestion: reduced terminal productivity due to reduced staffing in response to Covid-19; and a shortage of trailers.

The basic situation of logistics at present is: the first-leg freight rates are soaring, and there is a rush to get space, orders and containers. Export containers are scattered all over the world, and the return flow is not smooth. There is a shortage of labor at the destination port, and the unloading and container picking are delayed. The port is congested and the arrival time is seriously delayed.

Due to the severe shortage of containers, the freight rate from Yantian to Algeciras has reached 10,000 USD recently . A Maersk spokesperson said: "From July to October, all the containers that could be found have been rented out, but the leasing market has dried up and there are no empty containers on the market."

Shanghai, Ningbo, Qingdao are still short of containers. Freight forwarders and shippers are experiencing high freight rates of 4,000 in South America, 5,000 in the East Coast of America, and 1,000 in Southeast Asia overnight, and there is no space or containers.

This epidemic has brought different heavy blows to shipping companies, freight forwarders and foreign trade people.

Maersk also spoke out on the 17th, saying that it would take a long time to restore normal transportation conditions in response to this phenomenon.

Coupled with the arrival of the peak consumption season, it currently seems highly likely that shipping prices will remain at a high level for some time to come.

According to feedback from freight forwarders, Amazon's warehouses PHX3 , PHX5 , PHX7 in Arizona and OAK3 , SJC7 , SMF3 , ONT2 , ONT6, ONT8 , ONT9 , LGB8 , LAX9 , SNA4/6/7/8 and LGB6/4 in California have been overwhelmed recently. It is difficult for UPS and FedEx to deliver goods to them, and the last-mile delivery is also slow.

Sellers in the European market also suffered from the troubles brought by the second blockade, because logistics and transportation in many countries or regions were delayed under the second blockade.

Recently, the freight forwarder issued a notice stating that UPS only delivers from Monday to Friday during the epidemic, and there is no delivery service on weekends. Due to the second outbreak of the epidemic in Europe and the last leg, the following postal codes will be delayed and stopped from delivering . The affected countries include Czech Republic, Germany, Romania, UK, Ireland and Slovenia. For example, the delivery in UK and Ireland will be affected until the end of November . Czech Republic: There will be delays in pickup and delivery.

Sellers in the European market can pay close attention to areas where delivery is suspended and arrange delivery time reasonably.

Not only have costs increased dramatically and delivery been delayed in some areas, but according to foreign media reports, starting January 1, 2021, packages entering the United States will also face stricter data requirements.

Hurricane Commerce, a global provider of cross-border trade technology services, predicts that hundreds of millions of packages sent to the United States will be rejected when the requirement to set higher thresholds for electronic data provided by U.S. packages takes effect on January 1 , 2021. Any U.S. package with incorrect or incomplete information will be rejected and returned to its origin.

“The higher quality data thresholds that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) must meet by January 1, 2021 present significant challenges to the Post Office,” Hurricane Commerce said.

The January 1 deadline marks the latest step in the United States' implementation of the STOP Act, which is aimed at combating the importation of illegal opioids into the U.S. Starting January 1 next year, the postal service will provide complete and valid data on all mail parcels sent to the United States without exception.

As things stand, this means that hundreds of millions of parcels may be rejected and eventually returned to their origins . Such a large volume of freight will not only bring huge logistical challenges, but will also have a serious impact on air cargo capacity.

Meanwhile, rejected packages are being sent back to their countries of origin, delaying tens of millions of mail shipments - a problem that is likely to be exacerbated by the drastic reduction in the number of planes due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It is the peak season at the end of the year, and now there is a "crowding with goods" everywhere. Sellers should pay close attention to logistics trends and ship goods reasonably.

(Source: Cross-border Sellers Teahouse)