The victim's personal account: I couldn't sleep all night! The whole story of Yiwu freight forwarder maliciously withholding goods

On April 16, 2021, since the news came out that XX was unable to pay the destination port and overseas warehouse fees, resulting in the goods being stranded in the overseas warehouse and unable to be picked up at the destination port, we, as cargo owners, have been unable to sleep all night. Many cargo owners from all over the country have gone straight to XX to ask for an explanation. Since it also has a logistics company in Shenzhen, many cargo owners have reported the case directly to the local police.

56 containers cannot be picked up, where does the 13 million logistics fee go? Why is there such a big gap in freight forwarding as a light asset industry? How to deal with goods worth hundreds of millions of yuan? Huge demurrage fees are generated every day, who should pay these subsequent costs?

Unable to pick up containers for delivery, as cargo owners, we are facing out-of-stock links every day. Foreign customers complain because they did not receive the goods on time. Many cargo owners who borrowed money to make goods will soon face the problem of cash flow interruption ... Many of our cargo owners are also freight forwarders. We have no choice but to compensate customers first. Foreign trade customers can only send replenishment to customers first. More cargo owners are under the current international express delivery of 60+/kg to replenish the links...

After sorting out the matter, we learned that: XX had already encountered financial problems in February, but was still receiving goods in early April and asked customers to pay in advance. The cause of this incident was the payment period problem between XX and the shipping company responsible for the first leg, including * Freight Forwarding Company, * Freight Forwarding Company, * Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd., * Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd., and the overseas warehouse CCS and YTW. After the incident, XX asked us to redeem the goods at 1.8 times the freight. Let me ask: As the owner of the goods and the customer of XX, the freight has been fully settled, why should we pay XX back? The shipping company used our goods as a bargaining chip to make XX pay back the debt. Have you ever thought about how much loss it would bring to us?

In the past few days, many cargo owners from other provinces have gathered in Yiwu, rushing to seek help from relevant departments.

On April 19, under the organization of Beiyuan Subdistrict Office, our cargo owners’ representatives discussed the solution with XX, the shipping company and the overseas warehouse. Facing the anxious cargo owners, the person in charge of XX* responded with “Send me to jail, I don’t have any money now”. On the same day, XX published an announcement online, claiming that it has been actively negotiating with customers and will work with the shipping agency to discuss solutions, and promised not to evade or shirk responsibility and will properly solve the cargo problem. It is ridiculous! Is this the so-called “responsibility”? Is this the explanation given to more than 300 cargo owners?

On April 20, we saw a report on this incident on Yiwu Channel. The person in charge of XX claimed that he was also a victim. The 1.8 times crowdfunding to redeem the goods was decided by the owner himself. Here I would like to ask the person in charge of XX: "Please ask yourself, is what you said true? Who harmed you?"

Finally, as the cargo owner, we know that this incident involves a huge amount of money, and the relationship between XX and all parties is complicated. As time goes by without any progress, we are anxious and restless. Once again, we implore the relevant departments to pay attention and help, and also to seek justice for us! The problem of picking up the cargo stranded in overseas warehouses and cargo stranded in ports is imminent! These goods include some seasonal products, and time is equal to money. This incident has had a great impact on our foreign trade business. If it cannot be resolved in the short term, the subsequent losses will be immeasurable!

In addition, this incident is a vicious incident in the cross-border circle, especially in the freight forwarding circle. If the matter is not properly resolved and XX is not severely punished, it will inevitably be imitated by other freight forwarders in the future. How many cargo owners will suffer losses? This will be a great obstacle to our foreign trade activities! Yiwu is one of the cities with the most frequent foreign trade activities in China. The freight forwarding industry is thriving. It should set a good example for the freight forwarding circle across the country, instead of making our foreign trade enterprises change color when talking about "Yiwu freight forwarding".

I hope that through this article, the truth of the matter can be made public instead of being distorted by those with ulterior motives!

(The above content is contributed by the cargo owner, and Ennet does not take any views on it.)

Yiwu

Freight Forwarding

Detention of goods