Due to the shortage of funds, low ability to resist risks, and the impact of unstable external environment, thunderstorms have occurred frequently among small and medium-sized freight forwarders this year. Recently, a reminder letter was exposed in the freight forwarding circle. It showed that a freight forwarding company in Shenzhen was in arrears with freight charges from its cooperative freight forwarders. When the cooperative freight forwarders demanded freight from it, they found that the company involved had moved away and the building was empty, as if Just disappear.

As a last resort, freight forwarders that cooperate with the above-mentioned companies can only issue reminder letters online, demanding payment of arrears of freight as soon as possible, otherwise they will sue in court. Although the company involved is not an established freight forwarder or a large freight forwarder, judging from corporate information, many freight forwarding companies under the corporate name have also been complained by other partners for arrears of freight.

01

Accused of owing freight to many partners

According to a reminder letter recently exposed in the freight forwarding circle, Shenzhen ** International Supply Chain Co., Ltd. booked space with another freight forwarding company. After the goods arrived at the port, they claimed that they had no funds to pay for the freight. The salesperson of the cooperative freight forwarding company had no choice but to apply for a guarantee. , the legal person of the company involved signed a payment commitment letter, requiring the goods to be released first, and promising to pay the balance in two months.

However, after the promised repayment date, the legal person of the company involved did not reply to messages or answer calls. A salesperson from the joint freight forwarding company came to collect the freight and found that the company had moved away. Although I contacted him again after that, he continued to use the excuse that he had no money to pay.

The cooperative freight forwarder requires the company involved to pay the freight and late fees as soon as possible. If it refuses to pay again, it will be sued in court. At that time, all costs incurred due to the lawsuit, including but not limited to legal fees, will be borne by the company involved.

Tianyancha data shows that the above-mentioned company involved was established only three years ago and was included in the directory of abnormal business operations for failing to submit annual report information as required, but no other risk factors were shown. However, the company involved also has a number of cross-border logistics companies under its corporate name, most of which have been established recently and are mainly located in Shenzhen.

Judging from the reminder letter, the amount owed is not large, but according to industry insiders, it is owed to more than one company. He knows several companies that are owed freight, ranging from 10,000 to more than hundreds of thousands.

In other freight forwarding groups, it was also found that some freight forwarders publicly released "early warning" information, pointing out that many affiliated companies entrusted partner freight forwarders to arrange shipments after collecting customers' goods and freight, but did not pay, and sometimes falsely claimed that the capital chain was broken. , "After the accident, he chose to cheat and disappear, and then continued to use different companies to change his appearance, return to his old business, and continue to solicit goods in the international logistics industry. Please be aware of this."

02

The life and death of small and medium-sized freight forwarders

The expansion speed of the cross-border e-commerce logistics industry cannot conceal the fact that the freight forwarding industry is chaotic. In 2023, when the epidemic dividend has been completely lost, the elimination of small and medium-sized freight forwarders is accelerating.

"2023 will be the year of elimination for small and medium-sized freight forwarders." Liu Yan, a senior freight forwarder in Shenzhen, pointed out that freight forwarders mainly provide customers with logistics and documentary services in the trade process. The entry threshold for the freight forwarding industry is not high. During the epidemic, there were even a large number of Sellers have transformed into freight forwarders, while most small and medium-sized freight forwarders still remain in traditional intermediary services. Due to problems such as narrow business scope, low degree of digitalization, and lack of professional talents, some freight forwarding companies with weak financial and technical foundations and small risk resistance will be eliminated. Eliminated, this year is far more tragic than previous years.

At first glance, it appears that the number of freight forwarding companies has been increasing. According to the "In-depth Analysis and Development Prospects Forecast Report of China's International Freight Forwarding Industry from 2022 to 2027" released by the China Research Institute of Industry and Commerce, there are currently more than 30,000 international freight forwarding agencies registered with the Chinese authorities, with more than 2 million employees. It is still increasing at a rate of 5% to 10% every year. But in fact, there are a large number of freight forwarding companies that do not have relevant qualifications.

Taking US Line as an example, according to the latest public data from the US Federal Maritime Commission, as of June 13, 2023, a total of 2,349 Chinese freight forwarding companies have completed registration with the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), met the qualifications and entered OTI list, but according to analysis by industry insiders, the number of freight forwarders actually doing the US line business far exceeds this number.

It is understood that there are two main transportation qualifications required for U.S. shipping business, namely the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) registration, that is, the U.S. FMC qualification and the non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC) registration. The FMC has the power to supervise all common carriers and ocean freight intermediaries engaged in U.S. line transportation, requiring them to abide by FMC's rules and regulations, disclose their freight rate schedules and service conditions, and not engage in unfair competition or illegal activities. If you are undertaking U.S. line business without qualifications, you will be at great risk to your customers and yourself. Once reported, you will be investigated by the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) and face huge fines.

In addition, due to the complex debt relationships in the freight forwarding industry, problems with a freight forwarding company often involve multiple sellers and cooperative freight forwarders. This year, many large freight forwarders were hit by thunderstorms. It was previously revealed that a Shenzhen freight forwarder had suspended delivery of goods. The thunderstorm incident involved 79 containers and cost more than 24 million yuan. Booking companies, customs declaration companies, customs clearance agencies, truck companies, etc. were all affected. . Due to the disorder and turmoil in the freight forwarding market, some sellers have to change freight forwarders. According to a survey conducted by Hugo Cross-Border, nearly 20% of sellers are dissatisfied with the freight forwarder they are currently cooperating with and are considering changing the freight forwarder. At the same time, 30% of sellers said that the cooperation is only temporary and they need to observe the future cooperation. Another survey data shows that nearly 60% of sellers have changed their cooperative freight forwarders this year.

It is worth noting that in order to reduce the impact of unstable factors on freight forwarding service quality, some big sellers have even established their own freight forwarding companies to convert original scattered international transportation into bulk transportation to shorten delivery time, improve return and exchange service efficiency, and reduce logistics and rental costs and shorten the order cycle.

How to accelerate model transformation and improve service quality in the post-epidemic era will be an important issue for small and medium-sized freight forwarders to "continue their survival". What do you think about this? Welcome to leave a message at the bottom to communicate.

Shenzhen Fly International Logistics, with many years of experience in air transport, sea transport, and express delivery channels, has maintained close long-term cooperation with various airlines, shipping companies, and the four major express delivery companies. It adheres to the principle of people-oriented and integrity. The company has experienced port Customer service at the front and back ports patiently solves professional shipping problems in international logistics, efficiently tracks cargo information, and strives to build the Xiangfeiyang brand with self-operated and self-controlled air and sea delivery routes in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe. It has more than 10,000 square meters of overseas warehouses in the United States. There are more than 3,000 square meters of overseas warehouses in the UK. Based on the type of goods, product attributes, and timeliness requirements, the country will customize the most suitable logistics plan for customers, so that customers' goods can arrive on time at the scheduled time, and successfully save logistics for customers. Cost, our expertise, your peace of mind!