Thunderstorm! Shenzhen freight forwarder's capital chain broke, asking customers to raise 4 million to redeem goods

For cross-border sellers, the safe and timely arrival of goods is an important part of ensuring normal operations. However, due to the complexity of cross-border logistics, delays and lost items occur frequently, and disputes between freight forwarders and sellers continue.

At the same time, as competition in the freight forwarding industry continues to intensify, the industry is a mixed bag of good and bad players. Some freight forwarding companies have encountered difficulties and are unable to cope with them, and have simply run away.

Recently, another freight forwarding company was suspected of "going bankrupt". The goods exported through this company were stranded at the port and were delayed. Customers had to pay more money to redeem the containers...

The freight forwarder's capital chain is broken and customers are asked to raise money to redeem the containers

Recently, a screenshot like this has been circulating in the seller circle. It shows that Shenzhen Quanyi Cross-border Supply Chain Co., Ltd. was unable to solve the problem on its own due to a broken capital chain, and had to ask its customers to raise funds to withdraw the goods stranded at the port.

The announcement shows that the reasons for the break in Quanyi’s capital chain are as follows:

1. Port control issues: cabinets are piled up at the port for too long, resulting in high storage fees;

2. When the company was preparing to solve the cabinet problem internally, it took a series of measures such as loans and mortgages, but was ultimately rejected due to loan issues, which ultimately led to a break in the capital chain, a backlog of goods at the port, and a large amount of demurrage fees.

This has put Quanyi in an awkward position: on the one hand, it is facing financial difficulties and is unable to handle the high storage and demurrage fees; on the other hand, if the goods are allowed to continue to remain at the port, new fees will continue to be incurred.

In response to this, Quanyi has made a fund-raising plan. Simply put, it is to let customers pay to redeem their own cabinets. The company said that the fundraising account is uniformly designated by everyone, all fees are open and transparent, and the funds raised will be used to solve the subsequent customs clearance and delivery operations and other expenses. After the cabinet completes customs clearance and delivery, all the fees raised by customers can be used to offset shipments later.

Regarding this matter, Yienjun also contacted the relevant person in charge of Quanyi.

The other party said: "There is no problem with the route, but I have a problem with funds. Now I am crowdfunding to get the goods out. This year, e-commerce and e-commerce logistics business are not doing well. I am the only one working on the European large-scale route. No one else can get the goods out. If I lie down, e-commerce and my peers will face great losses, so I can't fall down. I have to save these goods now, otherwise the entire industry will suffer too much loss."

When Yi Enjun asked whether Quanyi had gone bankrupt, she said no, "I must save the market and get the goods out before I die." As for whether customers would accept the crowdfunding plan to redeem the cabinets, she said: "Everyone will accept it, because oversized goods are too expensive, and they are all 2C large items shipped one by one."

But the sellers obviously don’t think so. “For me, the fact that the goods are stranded at the port and I can’t sign for them in time has already had a negative impact on my business, and I still need to pay more to redeem the cabinets. This operation is really infuriating,” said one of them.

Quanyi is positioned as a dealer. This incident involves more than 100 small freight forwarders, and there are many related cross-border sellers downstream. At present, it needs 3-4 million yuan in customs clearance fees.

It has been more than a month since the incident, and Quanyi has not made any progress. At present, it is pinning its hopes on the industry's leading logistics providers, expecting them to take out the funds out of a sense of industry responsibility, and deliver the cabinets to overseas warehouses after customs clearance. At that time, those customers who have paid crowdfunding funds will be able to have goods delivered, and then the funds will be repaid to the leading logistics providers.

But the 100+ freight forwarders had different ideas, and most of them were unwilling to pay the money. Quanyi seemed to be doing its best to solve the problem, but its attitude was clear.

The cross-border logistics industry is full of chaos, and it is difficult for sellers to protect their rights.

Coincidentally, South China Merchants also sued the freight forwarder

After conducting a relevant search on Qichacha, Yienjun found that the actual controlling shareholder of Shenzhen Quanyi Cross-border Supply Chain Co., Ltd. involved in this incident is the same person as Shenzhen Jinbaotong International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd. involved in a freight forwarding dispute case in 2020.

In September 2020, a large seller in South China sued a freight forwarding company in Shenzhen due to unsuccessful negotiations on delay compensation.

At that time, the seller commissioned Shenzhen Jinbaotong International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd. to ship the goods to Europe at the end of 2019. The two parties agreed that the delivery time would be 35 days, but the actual delivery time exceeded the agreed time by more than 1 times, and the latest delivery time was as long as 112 days.

The total value of the goods of the South China seller was over 6 million yuan, and more than 4,000 items were delayed, with the delayed freight cost reaching over 500,000 yuan. According to the contract, the freight forwarding company Jinbaotong needs to compensate the seller over 2 million yuan.

But the actual situation is that Jinbaotong refused to recognize the contract signed at that time. Not only did the seller not get the 2 million yuan compensation he deserved as agreed in the contract, but Jinbaotong also refused to pay the amount agreed upon by both parties for various reasons.

The person in charge of the freight forwarding company said at the time, "2 million is too much. The company lost tens of millions last year. The company has no money in its account and cannot afford to pay. We can only pay 200,000."

What made this big seller angry the most was that he still couldn't get the 200,000 yuan compensation that the freight forwarding company promised. According to the freight forwarder, cash compensation was impossible, and if he was willing to accept the 200,000 yuan compensation, he could only offset it by shipping the goods.

I believe that all sellers will be speechless and angry after encountering such irresponsible freight forwarders. After many negotiations have been fruitless and the freight forwarders are unscrupulous, the sellers can only give up negotiations and choose legal means to protect their rights.

The freight forwarding market is mixed, sellers should not lose the big picture for the small

The export of Chinese products and brands overseas is the general trend of trade development. Especially under the catalysis of the epidemic in recent years, cross-border business has entered thousands of households. The question that follows is how sellers can send goods abroad. I believe that many people will choose freight forwarders.

This incident has once again made the topic of "freight forwarding chaos" a hot topic. Freight forwarding is an industry with mixed qualities, and the industry is also full of internal competition. Sellers often hear information such as "a certain freight forwarder ran away with the money" and "a certain freight forwarder collected the money for the fast ship but transferred it to the slow ship".

At the same time, there are many people with "ulterior motives" in the freight forwarding market , such as attracting customers under the guise of offering prices lower than the market's lowest price, charging customers for air shipment and sending them by sea, charging customers for fast ship and sending them by slow ship, accepting goods at low prices but not shipping them, or returning the goods to the seller after receiving the money with various reasons, and so on.

Many freight forwarders take advantage of the sellers' desire to get a bargain to attract sellers, but in the freight forwarding market, the price always corresponds to the service. Sellers who are greedy for bargains will find out the trick after trying it.

An industry insider said, "It doesn't mean you have to find the most expensive freight forwarder in the market. A price in the middle is enough. The wool comes from the sheep. Give you a lower price per kg, and then add a surcharge or something. In the end, it's all the same." According to this industry insider, the logistics industry is deeper than the Somali Trench!

So, facing the serious involution of the freight forwarding market, how should domestic cross-border sellers of all sizes avoid pitfalls? After consulting with professional logistics professionals in the industry, Yi Enjun summarized the following points for your reference:

Don't be greedy for small gains. No one will do a business that loses money. The wool comes from the sheep.

For goods with higher value, it is best to cooperate with large and well-known logistics companies;

Before delivery, clarify the possible problems and responsibilities;

For important goods, you can consider purchasing logistics transportation insurance, which can provide compensation for loss and delay;

Before choosing a logistics provider, you can learn about the company's size and operating conditions through platforms such as Qichacha.

In short, logistics is an important link in the entire cross-border chain and is closely linked to the seller's revenue. Sellers must keep their eyes open and choose reliable freight forwarders and carriers.

Freight Forwarding

Supply Chain

Cross-border e-commerce