Are Amazon sellers ready for the rush phase of the peak season?
Shenzhen Bluestar Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd., referred to as Bluestar for short, was established in Pengcheng Shenzhen in 2011. The company has accumulated more than 10 years of experience in the international logistics industry. Bluestar is a cross-border transportation service company specializing in the U.S. FBA first journey Express - creating value chain collaboration, and integrating overseas warehouses. Los Angeles and long beach ports are seriously congested: in the past month, several important ports in the United States have experienced "traffic jams" of cargo ships. The largest ports in California: Los Angeles port and Long Beach port, nearly 100 cargo ships were stranded in the port.
With the aggravation of the shipping crisis and the surge of consumer demand in various countries, now when you walk into American stores, you can see empty shelves everywhere, and there are not many goods on sale. In this regard, many Americans have said: "goods are piled on the wharf. No wonder the supermarket shelves are empty."
There is a large shortage of drivers and workers in American ports: at present, there are about 500000 containers waiting to be transported in Los Angeles and long beach ports. The shortage of warehouse workers and truck drivers is partly responsible for the detention of goods. The long-term delay in the transportation of goods has led to a surge in transportation costs, which has hurt thousands of enterprises.
In response to the supply chain crisis caused by the detention of goods, the US government has taken steps to "unblock" the port congestion: the White House has put forward the "90 day sprint" plan, requiring Los Angeles and Changtan ports to operate 24 hours to solve the congestion problem. Although the solutions launched by the U.S. government in an orderly manner, even if the terminal operators, importers, truck drivers, railways, terminal workers and warehouse owners adopt the 24/7 operation mode, they can not immediately solve the current congestion problem.
There are many difficulties in implementing the 24-hour operation of the two major ports in the United States:
I There is a serious shortage of warehouse workers and truck drivers. The operation of the U.S. port is in sharp contrast to the busy operation in China. There is a serious shortage of warehouse workers and truck drivers at the wharf. The unemployment benefits regularly granted by the government have made many workers choose to give up high-pressure jobs. Therefore, there is still a large labor gap for port employees and truck drivers in the United States.
II U.S. warehouses are full. The epidemic of idle truck transportation has exposed many long-standing problems in the U.S. supply chain. In Los Angeles, about 30% of the truck loading appointment time is not used, that is, it is idle. This is because the warehouses along the road are almost full.
III California passed the law banning trucks on the road. In 2020, California passed the law banning trucks on the road to limit non-standard emission vehicles.
As a result of this decision, half of the truck drivers in the country were unable to pick up goods from the port of Los Angeles or long beach, and almost all the trucks of private operators and half of the fleet trucks used to transport containers nationwide were rejected. To alleviate the current US terminal container problem, it is far from simple to increase the operation time, but also to solve the problems existing in the US supply chain.
At present, the transportation price has increased in the peak season: Nowadays, with the arrival of the peak season, many sellers are rushing to deliver goods, but the price fluctuation of sea, land and air logistics transportation is relatively large. Recently, the shipping, container trailer, fuel surcharge and peak season surcharge have been announced to increase.
I believe that after a month or two of preparation, we have now reached a sprint stage. At present, the focus is to pay attention to the closing time of FBA warehousing on Amazon site, select appropriate logistics methods to deliver goods as soon as possible, and ensure that warehousing is completed before the closing time.
Amazon US station released: FBA sellers need to deliver the goods participating in the event to Amazon operation center before the specified time, and announced the latest warehousing time of this year's black five, net one and Christmas activities - black five, net one: November 15, Christmas: December 2.
Time waits for goods! In the peak season, festivals come together: Halloween, Thanksgiving, black five & net one, Christmas and the eve of the new year are all opportunities for big sales. No matter how difficult it is, the seller's determination to burst orders cannot be stopped. The seller should be fully prepared to cope with the logistics peak!
How to avoid risks in logistics?
1. book space in advance and choose a logistics company with strong carrying capacity of first-hand makers to cooperate;
2. in peak seasons, warehouse explosion, port congestion and other problems often occur, and the shipment plan can be adjusted timely;
3. prepare goods in advance and enter the warehouse as soon as possible to ensure sufficient goods in the warehouse;
4. multi channel delivery and reasonable arrangement of replenishment channels.
Bluestar supply chain hereby reminds sellers that with the arrival of the peak season and the shipping problem has not yet been alleviated, all bosses should prepare in advance for goods preparation and shipment, try to book space in advance and make peace in advance, so as to avoid missing the sales in the peak season. I wish you a great sale.