Amazon closes many warehouses, sellers: My goods are wandering...

Recently , many regions including North America and Europe are caught in the shadow of winter storms and extreme weather .

In Europe, due to bad weather conditions, Germany, France, Italy and other places have successively issued driving bans.

In North America, storms have continued to hit since January , severely hampering transportation , with tens of thousands of flights delayed or canceled and deaths reported in many states . The weather conditions were so bad that on January 9 alone, a total of 14 tornadoes occurred in multiple states in the United States.

As the snow piled up higher and thicker, highways in many states in the United States were closed. For cross-border e-commerce sellers, the snowstorm caused multiple Amazon warehouses to be temporarily closed, and the delivery of products that were being delivered or ready to be put on the shelves was stagnant and delayed.

Snowstorm continues to hit, many Amazon warehouses closed

Recently, Ennet noticed that a freight forwarder notified sellers that several Amazon warehouses, including MDW2, MEM1, IND9, MQJ1, and FWA4, have been temporarily closed or will be closed.

Combine multiple freight forwarder information:

Due to the heavy snow in the United States, several Amazon warehouses have been closed. Among them, FWA4, IND9, and MDW2 warehouses were temporarily closed on January 14th, local time, and there is no specific reopening time ; MQJ1 was closed on January 20th, local time, and is expected to reopen on February 24th, US time ; MEM1 began to be closed for a long time on January 20th , and the reopening time is currently unknown .

In addition, the opening time of M DW2 is unstable . You can still make reservations normally, but there may be a risk of rejection. Nearby warehouses such as M DW2 and IND9 (mainly in Indiana and Iowa) are all closed ; FTW1 and CLT2 warehouses have slow unloading speeds, and delivery time fluctuates by 2-3 days .

FTW 1 is one of Amazon's largest warehouses for distributing goods and is nicknamed the "death warehouse". The inventory allocated to this warehouse often has problems with being unable to be put on the shelves .

FedEx and UPS temporarily refuse to accept goods delivered to Amazon's MEM1 and MQJ1 warehouses, and even goods that have been delivered will be returned to the warehouse.

The above-mentioned warehouses are concentrated in the central United States, and MQJ1 and IND9 are relatively popular warehouses in the region , and many sellers may be affected .

According to Lancaster Supervisor Robert Leary, the local Amazon sorting facility has been closed, and facility employees and local delivery trucks are unable to work.

However, not long ago, during the driving ban, dozens of Amazon trucks were stopped by Lancaster police for violating driving regulations.

As many parts of the United States were hit hard by snowstorms, Amazon warehouses had to close, and goods already on the way to delivery also came to a standstill. The problem of time delays can no longer be solved by skipping natural disasters.

Through multiple social media platforms, Ennet also discovered the anxiety of some sellers:

“ ——Alas , I sent IND9 , but now there is no news. I am so annoyed;

——I was the one who sent several batches of goods to MDW2 ;

——MQJ1 will not open until the end of next month ;

——The goods are still on the way, the MEM1 of the appointment , the people are broken;

——I divided several warehouses to share the risk, but I didn’t expect that all of them were hit ;

——This year is not going to be a good one. I have to worry about where my goods are on New Year's Eve .

——Several shipments were scheduled to be delivered to the warehouse on the 14th, but now it’s gone;

——It’s a mess. Three of the tickets are in the warehouse, and two are on the way to the warehouse.

… ”

Regarding the warehouse closure situation, some freight forwarders also told Ennet that the subsequent opening of warehouses in the snowstorm area is still unclear, but other warehouses are receiving goods normally.

The snowstorm in the United States has not yet completely ended, and the problem of warehouse delivery is still hanging on the minds of sellers.

Amazon's warehouses have repeatedly exploded, the red ocean crisis has affected it, and it is difficult to put products on the shelves

2024 does not seem to have had a good start in terms of shipping. This time the warehouse problem was affected by uncontrollable weather factors, but in recent months, sellers have also been "tortured" by many Amazon warehouses.

At the end of November last year , when sellers were preparing for stocking, Amazon ’s popular warehouses in the western United States suddenly experienced warehouse overflow problems. Many popular warehouses such as LAX9, ONT8, LGB8, SBD1, LAS1, SMF3, SCK4, GYR2, GYR3, VGT2, and XLX7 had their contracts canceled, deleted, or even closed directly .

Although some warehouses showed that they could still accept reservations, the rejection rate was as high as 90% . At that time, Amazon's flow control measures became very strict .

In order to speed up the listing process, some sellers had to send their goods to Amazon ’s warehouses in the eastern United States , but it was difficult to get an appointment. The MDW2 and MEM1 mentioned above, which were closed, also became popular warehouses at that time.

According to the feedback from freight forwarders, many Amazon warehouses are still experiencing problems such as overstocking, difficulty in making appointments, and high rejection rates. For example, the following are the situations in which direct delivery to Amazon is approved:

MCO2 : rejection rate is as high as 90% ;

JVL1 : Rejection rate increased by 50%, appointments were made 2-3 weeks later ;

XLX6/XLX7 : goods are required to be palletized, and the rejection rate of floor pallets is as high as 90% ;

SMF3 , SCK1 : Liquidation is scheduled in 2 weeks ;

LGB8 , LAX9 : appointments in 2-3 weeks ;

FTW1 : Appointment is in 3 weeks ;

ONT8 : Appointment pending, there will be a temporary postponement ;

ORD2 : The appointment is made 3-4 weeks later, and the delivery needs to be DROP ;

MEM1 : Appointment pending, not approved ;

MDW2 : Appointment is in early February ;

In addition to the above warehouses, other warehouses also require reservations about 2 weeks in advance .

The situation of Amazon reservations is not optimistic:

ORF2 : appointments were made one week late, with a high rejection rate;

FTW5 , FTW1 : appointments are normal, but the rejection rate is high;

MEM1 : Difficulty in approving contracts ;

Although TEB9 , ORD2 , ABE8 , JVL1 , IAH3 , SJC7 , etc. can be approved, the approval of the container dismantling appointment will be delayed by one week.

"Whether it's a cardboard contract or a floor contract, although it's not so fierce that people are fighting for it, it's indeed difficult , and the timeliness is not stable. "

From last year to this year, sellers have suffered from FBA, including high rejection rates, warehouse overflow, long appointment times, frequent cancellations and postponements, and slow unloading . The snowstorm not only delayed the time for cargo transfer and listing, but also increased the chances of final delivery and lost items.

At the same time, the first leg of transportation is also not peaceful. The continued Red Sea crisis has caused serious damage to the global supply chain.

Currently, many global shipping giants are avoiding the Red Sea route and are forced to take the detour around the Cape of Good Hope , but a series of chain reactions have caught the logistics market off guard .

Shipping analysis agency Sea-Intelligence predicts that due to the detour around the Cape of Good Hope, the shipping industry has reduced effective shipping capacity by 1.45 million to 1.7 million TEUs , accounting for 5.1% to 6% of the world's total shipping capacity. Vespucci Maritime data shows that before the Chinese New Year, the number of containers arriving at Asian ports will be 780,000 TEUs less than before , and the "hard to get a container" may reappear, which has led to a recent surge in container prices by nearly 600% .

Shipping costs have increased, shipping time has increased, and delivery times have been delayed . Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc said that it may take months to restart the Red Sea route , and major disruptions may occur from January to March .

During this peak period of shipments , sellers not only have to face rising transportation costs, but also face the dilemma of spending more money but not being able to put products on the shelves on time. The irresistible snowstorm and the Red Sea crisis seem to have given sellers a not very optimistic start in 2024 .

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