Tornadoes and floods hit the United States: Amazon warehouses are closed and local transportation is suspended!

Previously, the snowstorm in the United States had caused great delays to sellers' end-of-line deliveries. Now the impact of the blizzard has not yet been completely eliminated, and the tornado is coming again.

Due to the ravages of the tornado, some Amazon warehouses have been affected and closed.

Tornadoes wreak havoc in southeastern United States: delivery delays, Amazon warehouse closures

According to US media reports, the southeastern United States has been hit by nearly 20 tornadoes in recent days , which have killed six people, injured dozens of people, and destroyed a large number of houses.

More than 21,000 Alabama customers were without power, according to poweroutage.us .

The Storm Prediction Center said that the risk of tornadoes in the southern United States is extremely high, and an "extremely dangerous situation" warning has been issued for about 5.5 million residents in western and northern Alabama, northwest Georgia, central and eastern Mississippi, and southern Tennessee . Among them, more than 1 million people are under high threat of tornadoes, including cities such as Florence, Mississippi, Decatur and Madison, Alabama.

Not only that, but the storm system is forecast to move eastward, closer to the Atlantic coast, by Sunday, putting nearly 60 million people from Delaware to Georgia at risk of severe storm damage.

To make matters worse, tornadoes can also bring rain and hail.

The weather service's Storm Prediction Center said damaging wind gusts of up to 75 mph were possible , as well as golf ball to baseball-sized hail.

The weekend's forecast also calls for damaging winds, hail and even tornadoes in the same locations that were struck by a tornado less than 48 hours ago. Saturday's storms could make cleanup more difficult in those areas.

"The full range of hazards is possible, including very large hail, severe damaging winds, and a few severe tornadoes," the Storm Prediction Center said .

In addition, several states hit by tornadoes have had multiple days of rain over the past week, causing the ground to be saturated, so there is a chance of flooding this weekend in states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee.

In this case, it is inevitable that the tail-end delivery will be affected.

There are reports that this storm may cause partial suspension of logistics and supply chain. In addition to ground transportation delays, it may also delay air cargo and port cargo loading and unloading.

Not only that, while the last-mile delivery was affected, the Amazon warehouse was also closed due to a tornado.

According to foreign media reports, on Thursday, Amazon temporarily closed its Bessemer distribution center in Jefferson County , one of the counties designated in the governor's emergency order, and issued a severe weather alert.

"Due to a tornado warning for the greater Birmingham area, we are under a state of emergency issued by the governor," an Amazon spokesperson said . "As a result, we have closed our facility in Bessemer and will reopen it when it is safe to do so. "

In addition, the impact of the previous snowstorm in the United States on logistics is still ongoing.

According to foreign media reports, severe snowfall has closed several roads and highways in northern Arizona. The Arizona Department of Transportation said on Twitter: "The road surface is very slippery and drivers should postpone travel as much as possible."

Today, many FedEx, UPS, and DHL transport trucks are stranded on the way, and some semi-trailers are lined up in long queues on interstate highways, causing delays.

It is difficult to find space on the US-bound routes, and the shipping schedule has been delayed

The blockage of the Suez Canal has not been resolved, resulting in the ships of many liner companies including Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping, COSCO Shipping, CMA CGM, ONE, Yang Ming Marine Transport, etc. being affected, and the shipping schedules being delayed again, further causing the market to start empty flights, port skipping, and then container shortages, space control and price increases.

A letter to customers issued by Maersk's Copenhagen headquarters stated that currently seven of the company's ships are directly affected, four are in the sea lane, and three are still in queue.

On the one hand, the blockage of the Suez Canal may lead to a surge in European freight rates, and on the other hand, it is difficult to get space on the US route.

According to the freight forwarder, it is known that COSCO South China will not release two US East Coast vessels next week, and will give priority to loading the space that was dumped last week. While space is hard to find, the shipowner's warehouse security situation is worrying, and it is clearly stated that there is a situation of dumping 1-2 water vessels.

In addition, at the end of March, the warehouse space in Central China, South China and Western America became increasingly tight due to the delays and empty sailings of EMC, COSCO and OOCL. Some popular shipowners experienced warehouse overflows and container dumping. Many shipowners reported that prices would increase in April.

The shipping schedule in the United States has also been extended. There is a shortage of manpower in Los Angeles, large ships are queuing to enter the port, and unloading containers is slow. At present, there are still many ships docked on the high seas of Los Angeles waiting to dock. Some shipping times in the west coast of the United States require waiting for 22-28 days, including waiting for berthing. Correspondingly, the goods in the west coast and China channels will be affected and the timeliness will be extended accordingly.

The sellers also feel the rising freight costs. For example, a seller said that he is in a third-tier city and it is difficult for small sellers to collect enough goods for sea transportation. The air delivery to the United States has risen to 55, and the red order has also risen to 55, but the timeliness is unbearable↓↓

"I'm crying. Suzhou Airline is 55, and Red Ticket is 60."

"It was shipped from Shenzhen today, DHL56, am I being ripped off?"

"Oh, the price is the same in the provincial capital..."

$205,000 worth of products stolen! Another heist at Amazon warehouse?

Delta is retrieving about $205,000 worth of electronics and accessories stolen from an Amazon warehouse in Delta . Huang came to the attention of police after they received a report that an Amazon employee had stolen computer parts and watches from the Amazon fulfillment center in Tsawwassen.

Police say Xiao Huang Yi of Vancouver was arrested on March 12, 2020, after he sold a stolen computer processor to an undercover Delta police agent posing as a Craigslist buyer.

According to a civil complaint filed in the BC Supreme Court on March 17, 2021, police searched Huang's vehicle and house and seized nearly 100 suspected stolen electronic products and accessories, including computer processors, internal solid-state drives, Samsung Galaxy smartphones, Fitbit wristbands and Apple watches. The court charges Huang with theft over $5,000 ; attempted trafficking and trafficking in property obtained by crime ; possession of proceeds of crime ; and failure to report taxable income.