Spring 2023

Changes: Near-shoring and new regulations

Changes: Near-shoring and new regulations

Several shifts are affecting the e-commerce logistics space. For example. Hueske says: “Some large fashion brands are opening production and warehousing facilities in Turkey, shortening their distance to the European market. We also see Turkish marketplaces investing in warehousing and fulfilment infrastructure in Germany to enable them to deliver faster to their end consumers.
“This is impacting the demand for cross-border e-commerce shipments; however, we currently only observe these strategic developments in the very large organisations who have the financial means as well as a long-term strategy for these markets,” he adds.
Second, the introduction of the new IOSS (Import One Stop Shop) regulations in Europe requires shippers from abroad to register themselves for importing e-commerce goods into the EU. This is now the only way to use central hubs like Liege to import goods for the whole EU at a single entry point.
“If not registered at IOSS, the shipper has to deconsolidate the shipments at the EU entry point, bring them to the destination countries and import them locally,” Hueske explains. “This comes along with much higher cost than importing as bulk at the point of entry.”
In addition, VAT exemption for the import of goods with a value below €22 was abolished in July 2021. This has resulted in a sharp decline in e-commerce shipments from Asia to Europe, he observes.
Asked about recent news of cutbacks at e-commerce giant Amazon, Wouters is confident that this does not represent a lasting shift away from e-commerce. Rather: “The pandemic fuelled a spree in e-commerce growth that was much higher than ever before. Many companies invested in capacity and the ability to offer faster delivery times as a result. What we are seeing now is a course correction to a more normalised growth curve, and companies are stabilising their cost structures in line with that.”

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