Cross-border logistics is lagging behind again!

According to the feedback from multiple freight forwarders, Amazon’s individual warehouses are still bursting out, which has caused a series of chain reactions. Tens of thousands of Amazon packages have been backlogged in the DPD warehouse in the UK. The strike action of British workers has also intensified. More than 40,000 workers went on strike in December, and it will even continue in January 2023. Moreover, the UK is still suffering from a cold wave, and the low temperature and snowfall weather brought by the cold wave will continue in the future.

Right now is the peak Christmas sales season, and whether it is strikes, warehouse explosions or cold waves, it has brought more logistics problems to consumers and retailers. The British market is just a microcosm. Countries such as the United States and Germany are facing similar difficulties.

Explosion in peak season! Tens of thousands of Amazon packages backlog in DPD warehouse

Attention sellers in the UK market, the peak season liquidation is still going on!

According to feedback from people familiar with the situation, due to the impact of Black Friday and other incidents, the warehouse explosion is more serious. The goods sent to the UK have been withdrawn by DPD limit, and the difficulty of delivery has increased, resulting in slow delivery and pick-up of goods.

One of the freight forwarders said in detail that on the one hand, it was affected by Amazon’s warehouse explosion, which led to DPD’s warehouse explosion, and the backlog of tens of thousands of Amazon packages could not be delivered. On the other hand, the strike in the UK exacerbated this trend. "With the arrival of strikes one after another, the volume of DPD warehouses in the UK will continue to increase sharply, and the delivery plan will be delayed by about 4-5 days."

According to incomplete statistics, from December 1st to 24th, there will be only 6 days without strikes in the UK.

British media reported that about 40,000 members of the British Railways, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) will meet on December 13, 14, 16, 17, 6pm on the 24th to the 27th, and January 2023. National strikes were held on the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th. Only one in five trains on the British rail system will be running on strike day. On December 13, local time, about 40,000 railway workers in the UK had begun the first round of strikes.

The general strike has been described as the most destructive rail strike in more than 30 years. Maersk said the strike would cause significant disruption to the entire UK rail network.

British Royal Mail workers strike, logistics delivery delays

It is understood that the UK is currently facing the pressure of strikes by employees in many industries, including airport staff, postal workers and nurses, who are scheduled to hold large-scale strikes in the near future.

The Royal College of Nursing, Britain's largest nurses' union, has launched its first-ever national strike over wages. It is estimated that about 100,000 nurses will go on strike on the 15th of this month, and a second round of strikes will be launched next Tuesday (20th).

The British Royal Mail also arranged at least six general strikes before Christmas, with 115,000 participants.

Earlier, the Communication Workers Union ( Communication Workers Union) announced that Royal Mail employees would go on strike on December 9, December 11, December 14 and December 15. Due to the Royal Mail's general strike, the warehouse is full of parcels, the warehouse is far beyond capacity, and the warehouse has piled up outside the warehouse.

The latest news shows that the British Royal Mail has confirmed that it will hold a general strike on December 23 and 24. These two days are just before Christmas, and Royal Mail has cooperated with many e-commerce platforms. During the strike period, Internet access and delivery will definitely be affected to varying degrees. Among them, postal delivery services are expected to be greatly affected.

The general strike of British workers is bound to affect the online shopping enthusiasm of British consumers. According to the latest Christmas shopping research by VoucherCodes, in the "panic weekend" of the week before Christmas on December 17-18, 34.2 million Britons are expected to shop this weekend, and the number of consumers will be higher than that of the "Super Saturday" on December 17. "At its peak, 17.4 million people will shop online or in-store. Delays in online shopping logistics may prompt consumers to return to physical consumption, or not to consume.

Inflation has risen to as high as 11.1% in recent months, driven by rising food and energy prices , and while the current measure of inflation has eased, food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 16.5%, slightly higher than in October 16.4%, the highest rate since 1977. British labor disputes have escalated further as British workers demanded higher wages to accommodate soaring inflation.

In response to this phenomenon, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently stated that he will not compromise and is preparing to introduce an anti-strike law.

As we all know, there have been many strikes in the UK this year. Prior to this, British Prime Minister Sunak said that the government will not change its position on the issue of pay, suggesting that the only way to end strikes in railways and other industries is to allow unions to make concessions.

It is foreseeable that the tug-of-war between the two sides will continue for some time, and the strike crisis in the UK will certainly not be resolved in a short time. Due to the serious backlog of inventory in the DPD warehouse in the UK, and the strike of workers has seriously affected the logistics delivery process, the accumulation of goods will become more and more serious.

Regarding strike action in the UK, many e-commerce platforms have introduced relevant policies. eBay UK station issued an announcement saying that due to the large-scale strikes of Royal Mail and Parcelforce workers, the expected delivery date of many products has been postponed until after Christmas. eBay recommends that sellers use more Fast tracking service to ensure that the goods can be delivered on time.

Britain faces cold crisis

In the context of inflation and the downgrade of public consumption, the strike seems to have worsened the dismal sales of some sellers. A previous survey showed that two in five consumers had at least one delivery problem during last year's festive season. A quarter of respondents designated a "safe place" for their packages. If the goods cannot be delivered to consumers in a timely and accurate manner, it will cause great losses to the repurchase rate.

It is worth noting that the UK has recently been hit by a cold wave, which has also adversely affected local logistics.

Britain is in the grip of severe cold, with snow, ice and fog warnings across the UK, the Met Office said. The temperature in some parts of the UK dropped to minus 15 degrees Celsius at night from the evening of the 11th to the early morning of the 12th local time. Reuters reported that this is the "coldest night in the UK" so far this year, and the thickness of snow in some areas reached 10 centimeters overnight. At present, the British Met Office has issued a yellow warning for ice and snow in London and southeast England, and a warning for ice, snow and fog in other parts of England and Northern Ireland. Thousands of schools in the UK have been forced to close due to the cold weather. Regions in southeast England have warned people not to go out as much as possible.

Heavy snow disrupted air, rail and road traffic. The Bureau of Meteorology issued a yellow weather warning for London, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

There could be more snowfall in the UK in the coming days.

The majority of cross-border sellers still need to make timely and updated plans according to the logistics situation in the UK market.