It’s a lot of money! Industry leaders may give out 60 months of year-end bonuses

As the end of the year approaches, year-end bonuses have become a hot topic again.

At present, the sales of cross-border e-commerce industry are relatively bleak, and practitioners have no high hopes for year-end bonuses, but some companies have set new highs in year-end bonuses. It is reported that Evergreen Shipping may issue 60 months of year-end bonuses this year, which is enviable.

This year, the shipping price has shrunk significantly, and the market freight rate has even dropped to 1.5 yuan/kg. However, sellers find it difficult to accept a price that is too low, fearing that the risk is too high and they will pay the tuition fee. Even freight forwarders are very surprised: "How dare you go so low?"

As shipping prices fell, shipping companies' revenues soared. Freight forwarding companies, as intermediaries, have borne a significant drop in profits, and some have suffered huge losses. Cross-border freight business faces severe challenges.

Shipping companies may issue 60-month year-end bonuses

At the end of last year, Evergreen Shipping gave out 40 months' salary as a year-end bonus, shocking the industry and making the news a hot topic. When the bonus arrived, one employee said frankly, "I've never seen so much money before."

It is understood that the 40-month year-end bonus is an average figure. Most employees with less experience receive 35 months' salary. For example, the average monthly salary of new employees is more than NT$40,000, and the year-end bonus can be nearly NT$1.5 million, which is about RMB 340,000.

This year, Evergreen Shipping’s year-end bonus has exploded again!

In the first three quarters, Evergreen Marine's net profit after tax was NT$ 304.35 billion (approximately RMB 69.392 billion), a record high that has surpassed last year's full-year profit.

The company's year-end bonuses are naturally rising. It is reported that Evergreen Marine's year-end bonus this year will reach 60 months' salary. Industry insiders believe that Evergreen Marine's profit this year is better than last year, "60 months' year-end bonus is not impossible, the probability is very high."

In response, Evergreen Shipping responded in a low-key manner that the global container ship market is undergoing great changes and it is too early to talk about year-end bonuses. If the 60-month year-end bonus is implemented as expected, based on the monthly salary of grassroots employees of NT$ 50,000 to NT$60,000, their year-end bonus will be as high as NT$ 3 million , equivalent to about RMB 684,000 .

Evergreen Shipping is expected to retain its title of "Year-End King". However, with shipping prices falling, how long can the prosperity of shipping companies last?

The ocean shipping quote is as low as 1.5, is it reliable?

Currently, shipments on European and North American routes are weak and freight rates continue to fall.

On November 11, the market freight rate for exports from Shanghai Port to European basic ports was US$1,478/TEU, down 16.2% from the previous period; the market freight rates for exports to basic ports in the West and East Coast of the United States were US$1,632/FEU and US$4,223/FEU, down 2.9% and 13.6% from the previous period.

The shrinking shipment volume has intensified competition among freight forwarders. In the logistics industry, the general ship price of 2.5-3 yuan per kilogram is already outrageous, but lower prices have appeared. "The entire market is very competitive, especially the US direction. Now the US line sea freight price has reached 1.5 yuan." said Li Ting, a logistics person.

Some sellers have received quotes of 1.5 yuan/kg. One seller said he couldn’t understand why: “ The popular warehouse in the western United States is 1.5 yuan /kg, which is about the same as the domestic express delivery. It also requires manpower and material resources to collect , measure , load, transport the goods to the United States , and deliver them to the warehouse at the end. ”

Faced with such a low price, sellers were worried about the possibility of running away and did not push up the price. So is the price of 1.5 yuan /kg reasonable?

A freight forwarder analyzed that there may be three reasons for such a quotation: one is to target the market with price ; the second is that the space has been booked but the cargo cannot be filled so the price is pushed ; the third is fraud with additional charges .

Another freight forwarder admitted that as a colleague, he would never dare to take this price. "There must be scams. Many of them will just take a small amount of money and run away. Once the goods arrive at their warehouse , various fees will be added . Or they will not deliver the goods if you don't pay after arriving at the port, etc. No one will do business at a loss. If there is, there must be a big scam behind it. "

Can you make money by purchasing ordinary cargo at a price of 1.5 yuan/kg?

Li Ting said that if the seller charges one or two thousand US dollars for the cabinet, and if heavy goods can be accepted, 1.5 yuan is exactly the cost price.

Zhao Cheng, a freight forwarder in Shenzhen, believes that the current price of containers in the West Coast of the United States is around 2,000-2,500 yuan . If you want to break even, the purchase price must be at least 5 yuan, and this must also meet a series of conditions such as large volume, the ability to distribute goods, and a single container can hold more than 15-16 tons of goods. Therefore, unless the container is free, the market price of 2 yuan, 3 yuan, and 4 yuan per kilogram is fishy and will definitely lose money.

"The quotes between 2.5 yuan and 3 yuan are unprofitable, and may even result in a loss. Once problems such as inspection arise, where will the money be to deal with them? Will we have to use up our original capital to deal with them?" In his opinion, going through the 1.5 yuan/kg channel is like playing cards, which is a complete gamble.

Those who receive goods at low prices will most likely lose money, and some freight forwarding companies call this a strategic loss.

Strategic losses of multiple freight forwarders

At present, many freight forwarding companies are experiencing this kind of strategic loss. Even if they know that they will not make money, they still accept goods at extremely low prices. This is the same logic as the sellers’ low-price internal circulation, in order to first protect their business and survive the cold winter.

Freight forwarder Li Fei said that his company has suffered huge losses this year , with the monthly cost of the Shenzhen branch being around 1 million yuan. If they cannot receive any more goods, they will have to lay off employees. Given the market situation, all peers are buying goods at low prices. Even if their own costs are high, they have to follow the market, otherwise they will not be able to receive any goods.

The current unloading volume is very low, and freight forwarders have to " snatch " the goods. " Originally, our normal cost price is 10 yuan, but if we accept some goods worth around 10 yuan, the subsequent volume cannot keep up, and when we receive the goods again, we can't follow the original price. Even if it's 3 or 5 yuan, we have to do it, and we lose money here. "

Compared with last year, the sales of many cross-border sellers this year have plummeted. They finally waited for the peak season, but it turned out to be a bad season and sellers had no goods to sell. In addition, due to Amazon's storage capacity restrictions, some sellers were unable to ship goods for a long time.

No one is shipping goods, this is the most fatal! Many cabinets are empty, and many logistics companies' warehouses are also empty. These logistics companies also have to support their employees, so even if they can receive some goods and get some money back, it's good. And this year, there are too many peers who receive goods at low prices or at a loss, and people are used to it.

Industry insiders joked that everyone doing business with Amazon is making strategic losses now, so why shouldn’t freight forwarders be allowed to make strategic losses too?

Data shows that from May to August this year, ocean bookings from China to major ports on the west and east coasts of the United States were far below the highest level in two years; in September, several U.S. shipping carriers reduced shipping trips; in October, U.S. imports still did not improve, with the throughput of the Port of Long Beach down about 16.6% from the same period last year and imported containers down 23.7%.

Li Fei said that it is very difficult for freight forwarders to expand new customers now, especially in recent months. They clearly feel that it is becoming increasingly difficult to develop new customers. Several colleagues who used to be very good at developing customers now have no performance.

" When we go to factories or sellers, most of them say they have no stock, and they are unwilling to cooperate with new freight forwarders. This year, many freight forwarders have gone bankrupt or run away, and sellers are afraid of being cheated. Now the overall demand is in a weak state. "

Under today's market conditions, sellers will be more cautious when choosing freight forwarders.

After receiving a quote from a freight forwarder, a seller asked the freight forwarder to deposit 50,000 yuan. The freight forwarder asked in return: "Why do you need our company to deposit money when you ship goods?" The seller told the freight forwarder that because your price is too cheap, our boss is worried that you will run away.

As an important part of the cross-border e-commerce industry, the fate of logistics companies is closely linked to market conditions. The experiences of cross-border sellers will quickly be reflected on freight forwarders. Whether it is sellers or freight forwarders, strategic losses are not a long-term solution.