Overview

Amazon has warned sellers that a possible Canadian rail strike could begin on May 22, with no clear end date. The advisory urges sellers to protect their supply chains by moving rail shipments to trucks and by boosting inventory at Canadian fulfillment centers before the strike starts. Because the length of any work stoppage is unknown, sellers who depend on rail to move products into Amazon’s Canadian network need to act now to avoid stockouts and lost sales.

Key Points

• Strike start date — Canadian rail workers may walk off the job as early as May 22, and the duration remains undefined.
• Amazon’s coordination — Amazon is working with its transportation partners to develop contingency plans that limit disruption to inbound shipments.
• Immediate seller actions — Sellers are advised to shift pending rail loads to truck freight and to increase on‑hand inventory at Canadian fulfillment centers before the deadline.
• Higher trucking costs — Shipping by truck typically costs more than rail, especially for heavy or bulky items, so sellers should factor the added expense into their budgeting.
• Potential capacity crunch — Trucking capacity in Canada can tighten quickly once the strike begins, making early bookings essential.
• Impact on sales periods – Late May and early June are peak selling windows for many categories; inventory gaps during this time can hurt sales velocity and organic rankings.

How Sellers Should Prepare

1. Inventory audit — Review current stock levels at each Canadian fulfillment center; for example, a seller of home‑office chairs discovers they have only a two‑week buffer for their best‑selling SKU.
2. Replenishment shipment — Create and ship additional units before May 22, prioritizing high‑velocity ASINs and items with long manufacturing lead times; a toy manufacturer might send an extra 5,000 units of a top‑selling action figure to cover a four‑week gap.
3. Mode switch to trucking — Contact freight forwarders to reroute any scheduled rail loads to truck; a health‑supplements seller could move a pending 20‑ton rail consignment to a series of truckloads, accepting a 15% cost increase to maintain availability.