Tens of thousands of Amazon packages are piled up during peak season

Cross-border logistics is lagging behind again!

According to feedback from multiple freight forwarders, Amazon's warehouses are still bursting, which has caused a series of chain reactions. Tens of thousands of Amazon packages are already piled up in the UK DPD warehouse. The strike actions of British workers are also intensifying, with more than 40,000 workers striking in December and even continuing in January 2023. In addition, the UK is also suffering from a cold wave, and the low temperature and snowy weather brought by the cold wave will continue in the future.

It is the peak Christmas sales season, and strikes, warehouse explosions and cold snaps have brought more logistics problems to consumers and retailers. The British market is just a microcosm, and countries such as the United States and Germany are facing similar problems.

DPD warehouses are overwhelmed with tens of thousands of Amazon packages

Sellers in the UK market, please note that the peak season is still continuing!

According to feedback from people familiar with the matter, warehouses are severely overwhelmed due to the impact of Black Friday and other events. DPD has limited pickup for goods shipped to the UK, making delivery more difficult and resulting in slow delivery and pickup of goods.

One of the freight forwarders detailed that on the one hand, Amazon’s warehouse explosion caused DPD’s warehouse explosion, and tens of thousands of Amazon packages were piled up and could not be delivered. On the other hand, the strike in the UK exacerbated this trend. “With the arrival of the strike wave, the volume of goods in the UK DPD warehouse will continue to surge, and the delivery plan will be delayed by about 4-5 days.”

According to incomplete statistics, there will be only six days without strikes in the UK from December 1st to 24th.

British media reported that about 40,000 members of the British Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) will hold a national strike on December 13, 14, 16, 17, from 6 pm on December 24 to 27, and on January 3, 4, 6, and 7, 2023. On the day of the strike, only one-fifth of the trains in the British railway system will be running. On December 13, local time, about 40,000 railway workers in the UK have started the first round of strikes.

The strike has been described as the most destructive rail strike in more than 30 years. Maersk said the strike would cause serious disruptions across the UK rail network.

Royal Mail workers strike, delivery delays

It is understood that the UK is currently facing pressure from employees in multiple industries to strike, including airport staff, postal workers and nurses who are scheduled to hold large-scale strikes in the coming days.

The Royal College of Nursing, the largest nurses' union in the UK, has launched its first national strike in history over salary issues. It is estimated that about 100,000 nurses will go on strike on the 15th of this month, and a second round of strikes will be launched next Tuesday (20th).

The Royal Mail in the UK has also arranged at least six major strikes before Christmas, involving 115,000 people.

Earlier, the Communication Workers Union announced that Royal Mail employees would strike on December 9, December 11, December 14, and December 15. Due to the Royal Mail strike, the warehouse was full of parcels, far exceeding capacity, and piled up outside the warehouse.

The latest news shows that the British Royal Mail has confirmed that it will hold a major strike on December 23 and 24. These two days are just before Christmas. The Royal Mail has cooperation with many e-commerce platforms. During the strike, Internet access and delivery will certainly be affected to varying degrees, among which the postal delivery service is expected to be greatly affected.

The British workers' strike is bound to affect British consumers' enthusiasm for online shopping. According to the latest Christmas shopping research by VoucherCodes, 34.2 million British people are expected to shop during the "panic weekend" from December 17 to 18, the week before Christmas. The number of consumers will reach a peak on "Super Saturday" on December 17, when 17.4 million people will shop online or in-store. Delays in online shopping logistics may prompt consumers to return to physical consumption, or not consume.

In recent months, due to rising food and energy prices, the UK inflation rate has risen to as high as 11.1%. Although the current inflation indicator has declined, the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages has risen by 16.5%, slightly higher than 16.4% in October, which is the highest rate since 1977. British employees demanded a pay increase to adapt to the soaring inflation rate, and the British labor dispute further escalated.

In response to this phenomenon, British Prime Minister Sunak has recently stated that he will not compromise and is preparing to introduce anti-strike laws.

As we all know, there have been many strikes in the UK this year. British Prime Minister Sunak has previously stated that the government will not change its position on pay issues, implying that the only way to end strikes in railways and other industries is to make trade unions make concessions.

It is foreseeable that the tug-of-war between the two sides will continue for some time, and the UK strike crisis will certainly not be resolved in a short period of time. Due to the serious inventory backlog in the UK DPD warehouse and the workers' strike seriously affecting the logistics delivery process, the cargo accumulation will become more and more serious in the future.

In response to the UK strike, many e-commerce platforms have introduced relevant policies. eBay UK issued an announcement stating that due to the large-scale strikes by Royal Mail and Parcelforce workers, the expected delivery dates of many goods have been postponed to after Christmas. eBay recommends that sellers use faster tracking services to ensure that goods can be delivered on time.

Britain faces cold snap crisis

Against the backdrop of inflation and downgraded consumer spending, the strike seems to be a further blow to the dismal sales of some sellers. A previous survey showed that two-fifths of consumers had at least one delivery problem during the holiday season last year. A quarter of the respondents designated a "safe place" for their packages. If the goods cannot be delivered to consumers in a timely and accurate manner, it will cause great losses to the repurchase rate and other factors.

It is worth noting that the UK has recently been hit by a cold wave, which has also had an adverse impact on local logistics.

The British Meteorological Department said that the UK is under the control of severe cold weather, and there are warnings of snow, ice and fog across the UK. The temperature in some parts of the UK dropped to minus 15 degrees Celsius from the evening of the 11th to the early morning of the 12th local time. Reuters reported that this was the "coldest night in the UK" so far this year, and the thickness of snow in some areas overnight reached 10 centimeters. At present, the British Meteorological Office has issued a yellow warning for ice and snow in London and southeast England, and ice, snow and fog warnings have been issued in other parts of England and throughout Northern Ireland. Due to the cold weather, thousands of schools in the UK have been forced to close. Areas in southeast England have reminded people to try not to go out.

Heavy snow disrupted air, rail and road traffic, and the Met Office issued yellow weather warnings for many parts of London, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

There is the possibility of more snowfall across the UK in the coming days.

The majority of cross-border sellers should still make the latest plans in a timely manner based on the logistics situation in the UK market.