Huawei is said to be reviewing its relationship with the US-based multinational courier services provider, FedEx after it reportedly diverted a couple of Asia bound shipments to the US. This screw up comes at a time when China and US tensions are at an all-time high. FedEx has confirmed this mistake.
There were four shipments in total that were rerouted or attempted to be rerouted to the US. Two shipments originating from one of Huawei’s suppliers in Japan were headed to its China branch, while the other two originated from another supplier from Vietnam and were headed for the company’s branches in Asia. The shipments from Japan were rerouted, without authorization from Huawei or its sender, to the US. The other two shipments from Vietnam were also attempted to be rerouted to the US.
FedEx has said that these shipments were ‘misrouted in error’ and it was not made on the directions of any third party.
“This is an isolated issue limited to a very small number of packages,” said FedEx, in a statement to Reuters, referring to the four parcels affected. “We are aware of all shipments at issue and are working directly with our customers to return the packages to their possession.”
The company has even formally published an apology letter on China’s Weibo regarding this goof up. It reiterates that this was a shipping error and there are no external third parties involved.
However, considering the rising tensions between the two world superpowers, Huawei didn’t take it lightly. In a statement to the Reuters, Huawei spokesperson said,
“The recent experiences where important commercial documents sent via FedEx were not delivered to their destination, and instead were either diverted to, or were requested to be diverted to, FedEx in the United States, undermines our confidence. We will now have to review our logistics and document delivery support requirements as a direct result of these incidents,”
Huawei also confirmed that the said shipments only had documents. So, there wasn’t any technology involved.
The timing of this goof up from FedEx couldn’t have come at the worst time. With even non-US companies like ARM and Panasonic struggling to keep relationship with Huawei, the company is in a tight spot right now. After this, we’ll have to wait and see if Huawei continues to work with FedEx in the future.
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