Since the beginning of this year, the international situation has been a few storms, for cross-border sellers can be described as a small flower in the wind and rain, and it is difficult to survive in the cracks.
British rail shutdowns Strike waves swept across Europe
The first is "British Rail will face the largest strike action in more than 30 years". Faced with soaring prices, oil prices and high inflation, British rail system employees decided to go on strike on 21, 23 and 25 June to improve working conditions. It was also the largest rail strike in 30 years. Although the railway company has also introduced emergency service schedules, it can only maintain about 1/5 of the frequency. And this railway strike could last for 6 months!
Under the pressure of inflation, not only British railway workers, but also trade unions in more countries have taken strikes, and there are currently strikes in Spain, Germany, Belgium and other countries!
The port of Rotterdam yard is full of empty boxes backlog is difficult to return to China
At the same time as the European strikes are followed by a growing backlog of undelivered goods in the Port of Rotterdam. This has forced shipping companies to prioritize shipping containers full of cargo, leaving Asian exporters' vital empty containers, trapped in large numbers in this export hub.
The Port of Rotterdam said the depot density at the Port of Rotterdam has been very high over the past few months due to the fact that the schedules of ocean-going vessels are no longer punctual and the lengthened residence time of imported containers. Although the current epidemic situation in China has improved significantly, due to ship shortages and delays in European ports, European export goods have to compete with empty containers destined for China, which may cause further disruption to the Asia-Europe route.
Many logistics companies said that China's factories will need a large number of empty containers to make up for delayed or unfinished orders in the past few months, and all this is facing the shortage of ships and containers.
According to FourKites, truck container traffic entering Shanghai from China's neighboring provinces has now recovered to 71 percent of pre-outbreak levels.
In the past, rail transport has often been able to share the congestion pressure faced by ports, but the recent outbreak of the epidemic and the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine have also caused many companies to avoid land transport. At the same time, the recent strike movement in Europe has exacerbated the dilemma facing logistics!
Dexun International says this situation means that vessel wait times will be longer in all major Nordic ports. About 60 percent of vessels moving from Europe to Asia in April and May this year were delayed, and as of June 17, there were 13 vessels waiting outside the port of Rotterdam for berths.
On the one hand is a full yard dock, on the other hand is a wage protest ready to strike the dock/rail/transport workers, under the double blow, the shipping schedule and delivery time may be further delayed.
How can cross-border e-commerce sellers help themselves?
Here it is recommended that all European platform sellers should pay close attention to the progress of the strike action in the near future and follow up on their own product logistics. Take precautions, do a good job of early warning and logistics replacement plan in advance! Adjust their shipping plans and transportation routes in a timely manner according to the situation to mitigate the impact of strike events on freight.