Shenzhen freight forwarder has trouble again

Since 2014, cross-border e-commerce has been included in the "Government Work Report" for 11 consecutive years, and cross-border e-commerce exports have become a new driving force for foreign trade growth. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, in the first quarter, according to preliminary estimates, China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports amounted to 577.6 billion yuan, an increase of 9.6%, of which exports amounted to 448 billion yuan.

The development of cross-border e-commerce has brought huge development opportunities to the cross-border logistics industry. However, this industry has been in turmoil recently. In March alone, three freight forwarding companies went bankrupt. Now, before the end of April, bad news has come from the industry again.

Shenzhen freight forwarder needs to raise money to redeem goods

The broken capital chain is the reason for most freight forwarders to go bankrupt, and this time is no exception. In a "power of attorney" document, the Shenzhen freight forwarder first stated that "the company's poor capital management has led to difficulties in capital turnover."

Therefore, another freight forwarding company in Wenzhou was entrusted as the agent to handle the relevant matters of the four containers with the numbers XT2031129 *** , XT20231202 *** , XT20231204 *** , and XT20240120 ***, including the fundraising for the four containers, the payment of relevant fees to the corresponding customs clearance companies, overseas warehouses and other relevant container overseas agents, as well as matters such as order making and delivery.

The freight forwarder stated that it recognized all decisions made by the entrusting unit in the process of handling the above matters . At the same time, it agreed to all relevant documents signed by the entrusting unit in the process of handling the above matters and would bear the corresponding legal responsibilities.

It is worth noting that this Wenzhou freight forwarding company, as an agency, is actually very "young". Qichacha shows that the company was only established in April 2022, and it has just been two years.

Needless to say, this time another group of sellers and freight forwarders fell into the trap. In recent years, the solution to the broken capital chain of freight forwarders seems to be only one: raise money to redeem the goods. Holes ranging from millions to tens of millions were filled by second- and third-tier freight forwarders and sellers. On the other hand, after the companies that went bankrupt threw away the responsibility, many of them quickly continued to collect goods across borders under another name and legal person. The industry hates this.

Someone had previously left a message to Yien: "The more than 20 million hole left by the collapse of the Eurasian Express last year was filled by small freight forwarders, and they simply changed the legal person after the accident. Now their business is normal and they have not suffered any losses at all."

How can we avoid encountering these deceptive freight forwarding companies?

First, pay attention to the freight forwarding company's service commitment and price transparency, and avoid choosing a company with too low a price but poor service quality. When working with a freight forwarder, pay more attention to timeliness and service, and avoid trying to lower the price. As one seller said: "Freight forwarding is a service industry. There is never a lowest price in the market. If you keep trying to lower the price, something bad will happen."

But some sellers don’t seem to care about this. Not long ago, an industry media exposed such an incident:

An employee said that because the company had little profit, the boss wanted to control costs from a logistics perspective and asked them to put pressure on the freight forwarders, demanding not only the cheapest price but also compensation for delays (if they didn’t, the freight would be withheld), and long payment terms.

Second, if conditions permit, you can participate in industry exhibitions, visit companies for on-site inspections, etc. to gain a more intuitive understanding of the operating conditions and strength of the freight forwarding company.

Third, understand the strength and experience of the freight forwarding company. You can evaluate its capabilities by checking its historical performance, customer cases, and feedback from customers who have worked with it.

Fourth, choose a regular freight forwarding company with more than three years of history. You can check its years of establishment and other related qualifications through some channels. As we can see from the above, some companies that have gone bankrupt will quickly change their shells and start again. Choosing a company with a long history can, on the one hand, avoid stepping into the same pit twice, and on the other hand, a long history indicates that the company is operating well and has certain strength.

In addition, it is very important not to put all your eggs in one basket. It is necessary to diversify risks. If you want to ship a large batch of goods, you cannot just find one freight forwarder. In this way, if one of them has a problem, there are other backup plans.

Freight forwarder offers 500,000 yuan reward for clues to its peers' assets

The pitfalls of the freight forwarding circle are a circle. When a big freight forwarder encounters trouble, the risk will be passed on to a small freight forwarder. The lower-level freight forwarders may also set traps for the big freight forwarders, such as the Xu Hongcheng incident that made a lot of noise last year. At the end of last year, a freight forwarder accused Xu Hongcheng and his team of committing a crime and defrauding their monthly freight.

After the incident was exposed, more victims gathered together and tried to protect their rights through legal means. However, they found that Xu Hongcheng had transferred his property long before the court's ruling. The total amount of his Tenpay, Alipay and 7 bank accounts frozen by the court was less than 100 yuan.

So not long ago someone issued the following reward announcement:

" If anyone can provide clues to Xu Hongcheng and his wife's property, including but not limited to houses, cars, funds, stocks, insurance, etc., once confirmed to be true and valid, we will reward them with more than 50,000 yuan. If the amount of property is higher, we can increase it to 500,000 yuan. "

In recent years, it is not uncommon for freight forwarders to be defrauded of monthly freight by their peers. They first obtain the space from the dealer, then resell it to customers (sellers and other freight forwarders) at a price lower than the market price. After receiving the freight, they do not pay the upstream party and run away with the money. Because they have signed a monthly settlement agreement with the first-level freight forwarder, the downstream party requires payment before releasing the order, which perfectly creates a time difference.

Judging from the cases previously uncovered by the public security organs, the crime process of this type of scam can be roughly divided into five steps:

The first step is to register a shell company and undertake freight business at a low price;

The second step is to induce the first-tier freight forwarding company (the downstream party) to sign a monthly settlement agreement;

The third step is to delay the payment of freight with various reasons when the agreed payment date is approaching, or even close the company and communication tools and abscond with the money; the fourth step is to arrange for the real owner or the fake owner to apply to the court for compulsory execution once the payment is owed and the bill of lading is withheld, so as to avoid paying the freight;

The fifth step is to use "economic disputes" to cover up the fact of fraud.

Their behavior has greatly disrupted the market. Many people think that the solution to this problem is simple, just don't extend the credit period, but looking at the logistics market that has now reached its extreme, this is obviously unrealistic.

How should the payment period be arranged?

Some freight forwarders believe that freight forwarders introduced by friends and whom they know well can give some credit terms, but they cannot give credit terms right away if they have only been in contact for a short time, have been established not long, or have a bad reputation in the industry.

Although there is a rule in the logistics industry: the first cooperation requires payment before the order is released to the customer, and then a monthly settlement agreement is signed. However, this rule is now being exploited by some bad freight forwarders. At the beginning, they will pay the freight in time to gain trust, and then negotiate monthly settlement. Once you agree, you will fall into their trap. So since the payment period is unavoidable, you must do a good background check on the other party before cooperation.

Shenzhen freight forwarder