There are several tracking statuses that appear on orders when you shop on AliExpress. Some of them are easily understandable (like “Arrival at Destination” or “Order Processing”) as they're pretty straightforward, but others tend to be a bit more confusing.
Line haul statuses (“Arrived at line haul office”, “Received by line haul” or “Received by haul line”) aren't as common, which makes it a bit complicated to understand at first, but it's really nothing more than the marketplace signaling to buyers that their package has been transferred to a line haul service provider. These logistic companies are responsible for moving your package from the consolidation warehouse to the carrier that will deliver it to you.
In this article, we'll explain everything you need to know about line haul statuses on AliExpress.
What is “line haul”?
The movement of freight or goods across different transportation methods, whether it be by land, air, waterway, between cities, ports, or warehouses is known as “line haul logistics”. Some of these routes are fixed, but the goods transported can vary in size, weight, and volume. These services require defined departure and clear arrival times.
Usually, goods that are bound to be delivered to similar destinations are consolidated in long-distance trailers that are then sent to distribution facilities where they're categorized and sorted. Once they're at the sorting facility, the packages go through another round of consolidation before they're dispatched to their final destinations.
Line haul is a term that includes every participant in the transportation and delivery process: drivers, dock executives, trucks, hubs, distribution, and sorting facilities, amongst others.
What does “Received by line haul” mean?
“Received by line haul” on AliExpress is a tracking status that means the package has been transferred to the service responsible for transportation overseas (either a cargo or an airline shipment). It pretty much means that the package is about to be dispatched overseas.
Since the marketplace has a massive supply chain network, orders aren't always shipped individually (especially not if they're part of a considerably larger order). So, the appointed logistics provider consolidates several orders from a particular location into one shipment. This is part of the reason why some packages take about 15 to 45 working days to arrive.
AliExpress uses line haul service providers to move orders from their consolidation and sorting warehouses into different carriers.
Before you get this status, you may get other statuses such as:
Regardless of the tracking status, the package has to go through customs clearance before and after arriving at the destination country, and it is then that it will get delivered to the customer.
“Arrived at line haul office”
This is a similar status to “Received by line haul” or “Received by haul line”, and it means that your parcel has arrived at the main distribution center.
“Arrived at the mainline office”
This status can be found in different stages of the delivery orders from AliExpress. Since a line-haul office is not a particular location, but rather different stations where packages arrive. To determine the approximate location of this office, you need to review the entire tracking history of your order.
For example, if the package arrived at a line haul warehouse after leaving the origin country, the office is most likely located in a transit country.
“Line haul departure”
Some overseas line hail logistics will create another status before the shipment leaves the origin country. “Line haul departure” basically means that the method of transportation your package is using has successfully departed the country of origin.
How long will it take for my package to get delivered after these statuses?
The duration of the “Received by line haul” status from the point it appears on the tracking section of your order until it gets delivered varies due to several factors. AliExpress has to consolidate other shipments that allow its capacity and weight requirements to be met before handing the shipment over to a line haul logistics company.
Then, the delivery depends on the flight or shipping schedule of the carrier you've chosen. Some carriers only fly or sail once a week to a particular location.
But, on average, the “Received by line haul” status can remain in your tracking history for around 1 to 2 weeks. However, it can be as fast as 2 or three days, in cases where the carrier has a daily or bi-weekly schedule.
You also need to take into account that the package has to go through customs clearance, and then transportation to where it's going to be delivered (both the country and the final location).
In general, by air, it takes about two weeks to have your package delivered and 5 to 6 weeks by sea.
Will my package be delayed?
Line haul transportation is key when it comes to AliExpress' supply chain process, and while the process itself doesn't cause delays, it can affect the delivery timeframe. Meaning, the faster the line haul process, the faster you'll get the package delivered to you.
Delays are rare but if the line hauling company is slow in transporting shipments to carriers, this could be part of the reason the package takes a while to get delivered. In addition, consolidation periods on the marketplace aren't longer than two days, because of AliExpress' high order traffic. Basically, delays are caused by other stages in the delivery process.
Can I speed up this process?
When the order status shows that the package has been received by the line haul logistics provider, there's nothing that can be done to make this process quicker. As we've mentioned previously, it's a usual thing for parcels to get to a consolidation facility before being handed over to the line haul company that will deliver them to the carrier's establishment.
If there's no progress after the estimated two weeks have passed, we recommend that you contact the seller to ask for extra information and how to proceed in that case. If you've ordered your package through AliExpress Standard Shipment, it is not unusual that the process is taking longer than 30 days.
However, you need to be aware of when your 60-day buyer's protection period runs out. If your package doesn't arrive within this time, the guarantee period allows you to raise a dispute and either get a replacement for your order or get a refund.
Still, you will be expected to wait until the end of this period before any resolutions are made.
My package is stuck on “Line haul arrival”, what do I do?
Once your package is listed as “Line haul arrival”, some tracking updates may be stuck on AliExpress' tracking page. As we explained above, be mindful of the buyer protection period and the amount of time your package takes to get an updated status or to arrive to you. You need to ensure the buyer protection period doesn't run out.
When this status appears, tracking updates may be stuck on your AliExpress tracking page, or you may receive contradicting information depending on the system you use for your tracking number.
We recommend that you use AliExpress tracking as your first choice, then Google's search bar, as it will automatically recognize any valid tracking numbers, or use a tracking page if you're looking for a second opinion. 17track is a common package tracking site that many AliExpress buyers use.
Using a different tracking method could help reveal details that the usual systems might have missed.