Chinese New Year and other important holidays

18 December 2018

The longer vacation periods in Asian production countries often cause major problems. Sea freight around these periods frequently struggles with capacity problems, and even “blank sailings”. And that can be a major issue for importers. That’s why it’s so important to factor these longer holiday periods into your planning schedules. These include the Chinese New Year, which will be celebrated in 2019 at the beginning of February.

Chinese New Year early in 2019

One of the longest holiday periods in China is almost upon us: the Chinese New Year. In the week of 4 through 10 February, the Chinese are free and don’t work . This means that factories lie still and our agents’ offices are closed.

Due to the Chinese New Year, there will be more ‘last-minute’ cargo demand in the run-up to the celebrations. Experience has taught us that there is always too little capacity and shipments registered too late run the risk of not being carried. As it looks now, the capacity problems this year are going to be even more severe than normal . Shipping companies are indicating that they are already ‘jam-packed’. This is likely down to the fact that the peak season overlaps considerably with the Chinese New Year, which is very early in 2019.

Conversely, the supply of cargo demand in the period after the Chinese New Year will be many times lower. This is because there will have been no production for a week. Since shipping companies prefer to sail with full ships, commonly a number of sailings are simply scrapped (blank sailings). To prevent problems with imports around the Chinese New Year, we recommend you factor this into your planning schedules and register your shipments in good time.

Planning assistance: holiday calendar for production countries

Staying up to date on holiday periods in the different production countries is time-consuming and complicated . Which is why we’ve collected them all together in a single clear calendar. Our “holiday calendar for production countries” gives all the (relevant) holidays in Bangladesh, India*, China, Indonesia and Vietnam. So you can keep a grip on your planning schedules .

Download the ‘holiday calendar for production countries’ directly here (print version).