89 new positive cases were reported yesterday, Shenzhen remained silent for two days, logistics were delayed

Recently, the epidemic has rebounded in many parts of the country, and epidemic restriction measures have been restarted, and people's work and life have been put on "pause". For practitioners in the cross-border e-commerce industry, the most concerned thing is the epidemic prevention dynamics in Shenzhen. Today is the second day of the closed management of the six districts in Shenzhen. Sellers cannot ship goods and freight forwarders cannot receive goods. For cross-border people, time is money, and the current silent state makes them anxious.

On the other hand, the strong typhoon "Xuan Lan Nuo" is coming again. The Central Meteorological Observatory has issued a yellow typhoon warning today. It is estimated that there will be huge waves to wild waves in the coastal waters of Zhejiang and large to huge waves in the coastal waters of Shanghai today and tomorrow. At present, shipping companies have issued notices of ship schedule changes and logistics delay warnings.

The logistics bottlenecks in South China and East China, two places where cross-border e-commerce sellers gather, have been strangled one after another.

Six districts in Shenzhen are under closed management, and logistics are suspended

From 0:00 to 24:00 on September 3, Shenzhen added 89 positive cases , 79 of which were found in quarantined persons, 4 in key personnel screening, and 6 in community screening; 69 were diagnosed as confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 20 were diagnosed as asymptomatic COVID-19 infections.

As the epidemic worsens, Shenzhen's Futian, Luohu, Nanshan, Bao'an, Longgang and Longhua districts successively issued notices on the evening of the 2nd, using Saturday and Sunday to conduct two rounds of nucleic acid tests. Now, except for a few stations on Line 6 and Line 8, all other subway lines in the city are suspended; bars, KTVs and other public places are closed; residential areas, urban villages and industrial parks are under closed management...

Shenzhen is an important window for foreign trade. According to customs statistics, in the first seven months, Shenzhen's import and export of goods reached 1.91 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.8%. In July, Shenzhen's foreign trade import and export reached 293.28 billion yuan, an increase of 4.2%, of which exports reached 172.17 billion yuan, an increase of 12.2%.

In the cross-border e-commerce industry, Shenzhen is also a gathering place for cross-border e-commerce sellers and cross-border logistics companies and other service ecosystems. According to Qichacha data, in terms of urban distribution, Shenzhen has 3,300 cross-border e-commerce related companies, ranking first. According to Shenzhen Customs data, in the first seven months of this year, despite the impact of the epidemic, Shenzhen Customs' cross-border e-commerce export business volume did not decline but increased, increasing by 2.7 times year-on-year.

Therefore, although the closed management period of Shenzhen’s six districts was only two days, it still had a significant impact on both sellers and logistics companies.

As soon as the news of the closed management came out, logistics companies issued notices saying that "the goods cannot be received for the time being."

One of the freight forwarders informed that in order to comply with Shenzhen's epidemic prevention requirements, the company suspended receiving goods from September 3rd to 4th and worked from home. Another freight forwarder also said that in response to Shenzhen's epidemic prevention policy, the park where its company's Fuhai warehouse and Guanlan warehouse are located implemented closed management from September 3rd to 4th, and suspended receiving goods. Another freight forwarder also said that their Pinghu warehouse and Qianhai warehouse also suspended production and operation operations, and did not enter the warehouse to receive goods, nor leave the warehouse to load goods. Satellite warehouse business only receives goods, not delivers goods.

Some operations of ports related to logistics have also been suspended. It is reported that all storage yards in the Qianhai area have stopped operations, and the storage yards outside the Chiwan Port area in Shekou have been sealed.

In the current situation, for sellers, online business can still be handled at home, but it is difficult to ship the goods.

The epidemic that has lasted for more than two years has trained sellers' risk prevention and control awareness to a certain level. When many sellers discovered a sudden increase in cases on Thursday and the prevention and control policies were tightened, they quickly shipped the goods on the same day or Friday. However, other sellers whose risk prevention and control awareness is not so strong or who have been delayed in shipping due to other reasons are having a headache.

One of the sellers said that the goods were originally scheduled to be shipped on Saturday, but now both he and the freight forwarder have been blocked. After the silent period ends, they have to wait another week before the goods can be shipped, which makes them very frustrated.

The sudden announcement of closed management in the six districts of Shenzhen not only left logistics companies no time to prepare, but also made it very hasty for sellers. One seller said that the warehouse was still working overtime to pack goods for shipment at night, but suddenly a closed management notice came out, which completely shocked them.

Many cross-border people are anxiously waiting for new news on whether the epidemic prevention policy will be relaxed or tightened next week. However, judging from the number of new positive cases announced by Shenzhen today, the data is still rising, and it is very difficult to relax.

While sellers in Shenzhen are having headaches, sellers in East China regions such as Zhejiang and Shanghai are also facing difficulties.

Strong typhoon is approaching, ship schedules are delayed

According to the Central Meteorological Observatory, the center of this year's 11th typhoon "Xuan Lannuo" was about 470 kilometers south-east of Zhujiajian Island, Zhejiang Province at 8 o'clock this morning (4th). The maximum wind speed near the center was 15, which is a strong typhoon level.

It is expected that "Xuan Lan Nuo" will move northward in the waters near Zhejiang from the night of the 4th to the morning of the 5th, and will turn to the northeast on the morning of the 5th. The Central Meteorological Observatory continued to issue a yellow typhoon warning this morning, and it is expected that the wind force in Hangzhou Bay and the northeastern coast of Zhejiang will be 10-12 by 8:00 on the 5th. In terms of precipitation, the Central Meteorological Observatory predicts that by 8:00 on the 5th, there will be heavy to torrential rain in northeastern Zhejiang, among which there will be heavy rainstorms in some parts of northeastern Zhejiang. At the same time, it is expected that there will be huge waves to wild waves in the coastal waters of Zhejiang in the next two days, and there will be large to huge waves in the coastal waters of Shanghai.

Affected by the typhoon, the docks and storage yards in Ningbo and Shanghai have successively issued notices to suspend container loading and unloading operations. Shipping companies have also issued notices of ship schedule changes, and logistics companies have also reminded customers to take precautionary measures against the typhoon.

Matson informed customers and booking agents that due to Typhoon "Xuan Lan Luo", the CLX/CCX ship names and schedules will be changed next week. The departure ports include Shanghai and Ningbo, and the destination ports include Long Beach and Oakland in the United States.

In addition, another shipping company also stated in a customer notice that due to the impact of the typhoon, the calls and related routes passing through Fujian and East China have been affected to a certain extent, and it is expected that some ship schedules will be delayed.

At the same time, there are reports that Ningbo Daxie China Merchants Terminal, the Third Container Terminal, Damaiyu Terminal, Meishan Terminal, Beilun Second, Beilun Third, and Yongzhou Terminal have issued notices to suspend container loading and unloading operations.

For example, Beilun No. 3 Container Terminal announced that it will suspend container pickup services from 8:00 on September 4, and container loading services from 10:00 on September 4. Daxie Merchants Terminal announced that it will stop container pickup services from 20:00 on September 3, and container loading services from 8:00 on September 4.

Hangzhou, Ningbo, Yiwu, Shanghai and other East China regions are the key distribution areas for cross-border e-commerce sellers besides Shenzhen. According to Hangzhou Daily, there are nearly 50,000 cross-border e-commerce stores in Hangzhou, and 219 leading enterprises with annual cross-border e-commerce transaction volume exceeding 10 million US dollars. There are 457 cross-border e-commerce brand enterprises with a scale of more than 20 million yuan. Amazon Global Store's first seller training center in the Asia-Pacific region is also located in Hangzhou.

If logistics is blocked, a large number of sellers’ shipments will be affected.  

Cross-border e-commerce

Cross-border logistics