Asendia moves cross-border ecommerce parcels between countries and then hands them to a local carrier for the final delivery. That handover model is exactly why its tracking confuses people: parcels go quiet for days in the middle, and the tracking number often changes hands. Here is what each status means.
Short answer: Asendia is a cross-border delivery company that carries parcels internationally and hands them to a local postal or parcel carrier for final delivery. "Item received" means it entered Asendia's network, "in transit to destination country" is the long international leg where tracking is quiet for days, "customs clearance" is the border stage, and "handed over to local carrier" means the final delivery is now with another carrier, whose tracking takes over. Quiet stretches of several days are normal on international routes.
Asendia statuses at a glance
| Status | What it means | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-advice / data received | Label created, parcel not collected | Wait |
| Item received / collected | In Asendia's network | None |
| Processed at facility / departed | Moving to the international leg | None |
| In transit to destination country | Long international leg, quiet | None (days is normal) |
| Arrived in destination country | Landed, heading to customs or sorting | None |
| Customs clearance | At the border | Pay any duty request |
| Handed over to local carrier | Final delivery with another carrier | Track with the local carrier |
| Delivered | Done | Check if not received |
The normal Asendia journey
Pre-advice / item received. The retailer created the shipment and Asendia has the data, then physically takes the parcel in. Nothing unusual here.
In transit to destination country. The long leg, by air or road, between countries. This is where Asendia tracking most often looks frozen: the parcel is genuinely travelling and there is nothing to scan between departure and arrival. Several days without an update is normal, not a problem, and the same quiet you see with any in-transit status.
Arrived in destination country / customs clearance. The parcel lands and enters the border process. Most clear quickly, but a duty or documentation request can hold it. See how long customs clearance takes and package stuck in customs.
Handed over to local carrier. The key Asendia moment: final delivery passes to a local carrier, for example Royal Mail, USPS, Canada Post, or a local parcel network. From here, that carrier's statuses and, sometimes, a different tracking number apply. If Asendia tracking goes silent after this point, look at the local carrier.
The statuses that need action
Customs clearance with a charge. If duty or VAT is owed, the parcel waits until it is paid, usually via a link from the delivering carrier. This is the most common genuine hold on an Asendia parcel.
Handed to local carrier, then silence. Not a fault, just a handover. Track with the local carrier, whose wording is covered in guides like Royal Mail, USPS, and Canada Post.
Returned to sender. After an uncollected hold, an unpaid duty, or an undeliverable address. Contact the retailer for a refund or reship.
The merchant view: handover carriers break tracking pages
Cross-border handover models like Asendia's are the hardest case for a tracking page: one shipment, two or more carriers, a quiet middle, a customs stage, and sometimes a changing tracking number. Show that raw and customers assume the parcel is lost, which is why cross-border shipping generates outsized support volume.
Pango's order tracking software connects Asendia alongside the local carriers it hands to, through prebuilt connectors across 100+ carriers, and stitches the legs into one normalized timeline on your own branded page, so the customer sees a single journey rather than two disconnected tracking numbers. Quiet international legs get a reassuring proactive update, and a customs charge becomes a clear instruction instead of a silent hold.
If you run a store and this status is generating tickets, Pango runs a free shipping and returns audit on your own orders as part of a demo, and the software categories to compare are returns management software and carrier management software. Book the free audit.
The exact Asendia statuses people search, decoded
The strings below are the ones Asendia recipients paste into search most often, with the reading each one supports. Asendia does not publish a status glossary; its shopper-support page describes the model instead: "Asendia works with local delivery companies to handle the delivery to your door or collection point. Track your parcel to see who that is." So every Asendia scan describes the international leg, and the last mile belongs to the local partner.
| Status as shown | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "Dispatched by Asendia" (also "dispatched by Asendia USA") | Asendia has accepted the parcel from the retailer and dispatched it into its network from the named origin unit | Nothing. The next scans are processing and departure |
| "Processed in facility" / "Asendia Hong Kong processed in facility" / "processed by Asendia USA" | The parcel has been sorted at an Asendia hub; the place name is the hub, not your destination | Nothing |
| "Check-in Asendia facility" | The inbound scan at a hub, the pair to "departed" | Nothing |
| "Departed Asendia facility" / "Asendia Hong Kong departed Asendia facility" / "departed from Asendia" | The parcel has left the hub, usually for the airport and the destination country | Expect a gap of days on the international leg |
| "Asendia inbound" | Arrival scan at the destination-side unit before handover | Nothing |
| "Asendia MSK", "Asendia hub Rodgau (SCL)" and other site codes | Hub identifiers on the scan line; they name a facility, not a delay | Nothing |
| Handover to the local carrier | Asendia's part ends; the local partner's tracking begins, often under its own number | Track on the local carrier's site once it appears |
Two things the shopper-support page says plainly. On delays: "Try tracking your parcel first, it might be with you soon." On a missed delivery: "Asendia works with local delivery companies to handle the delivery to your door or collection point. Track your parcel to see who that is. You should receive a calling card (physical or/and electronic) from them with instructions on what to do to rearrange delivery or organise a collection." The sequence after a missed attempt is in courier delivery attempt failed: what happens next, and the handover itself in handed over to local carrier meaning.
Asendia "Inbound" scans
"Asendia inbound", and lines that pair "inbound" with a site name, are among the most searched Asendia strings, and Asendia does not define them. Asendia's shopper-support page describes the model rather than the scans ("Asendia works with local delivery companies to handle the delivery to your door or collection point. Track your parcel to see who that is."), and its tracking portal at tracking.asendia.com is a tracking box with no glossary. So no Asendia definition is quoted here, and the reading below is the plain one: an inbound scan is an arrival at an Asendia facility, the pair to the "departed Asendia facility" line in the table above.
Which side of the journey it is on depends on the site named on the line, not on the word "inbound". An inbound scan at an origin-side hub, the kind of site that appears in the "processed in facility" and "departed Asendia facility" lines, is export-side: the parcel has arrived at that hub for sorting and consolidation, and what follows is a "processed" line and a departure toward the airport. An inbound scan at a unit in your country is destination-side: the parcel has landed and been received at Asendia's destination operation, and what follows is customs where applicable and then the handover to the local carrier, after which the local carrier's tracking takes over, often under its own number. A bare "Asendia inbound" with no site name is usually the destination-side arrival before the handover, which is how the table above reads it, but the site name is the evidence.
Asendia publishes no time from an inbound scan to the next one, so none is given here. Nothing is needed from you at either kind of inbound scan; if the destination-side one is followed by silence, the parcel has usually moved to the local partner, and that partner's site is the place to look.
The bottom line
Asendia carries parcels across borders and hands them to a local carrier, so its tracking has a quiet international middle, a customs stage, and a handover after which another carrier's statuses take over. None of that means a lost parcel. For merchants, stitching the legs into one timeline is what keeps cross-border from flooding support. See how it works on the post-purchase operations platform and book a demo.
