The Chinese Golden Week is a week-long national holiday, where all Chinese factories close to celebrate. Typically, importers rush to move their cargo out of China before the closures happen, therefore capacity becomes tight, and prices soar for ocean and air freight. Adding this year’s pandemic on top, and the capacity reduction it brought, it is certainly a difficult situation all around for the logistics sector this year.
When the Golden Week will be celebrated this year?
The holiday is celebrated annually starting on October 1, and it is meant to honor the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Marking the start of a 7-day Golden Week festival that includes parades, ceremonies, and many other displays.
In 2020, the Golden Week will be held from Thursday, October 1-7. Factories will be closed for the holiday week, with operations resuming on Thursday 8th.
How will the Golden Week affect your supply chain?
As the start of the celebrations come closer, importers rush to get their orders ready from the factories and make pre-Golden Week sailings, which will further constrain the space, already tight due to the peak season. Driving up prices for both ocean and air freight. Cargo will be more overbooked than usual, which will likely result in cargo being rolled.
Immediately after Golden Week, we are most likely to see blank sailings. This is to the fact that factories will be closed during the holidays, and carriers will announce these blank sailings simply to optimize their vessel utilization.
How should you prepare for Golden Week?
If you are shipping via ocean and want your goods to depart from China before the Golden Week and in time for the winter holidays, note that you will need to book your shipments prior to the Golden Week.
- For ocean shipments, it is strongly recommended to book 2-3 weeks prior to Golden Week.
- For air shipments, it is recommended to book at least 1 week prior to Golden Week.
Always plan ahead and work hand in hand with your ShipLilly team
- Share your forecasts with us as soon as you can.
- Let us know which shipments are a priority for you.
Be flexible
- Consider a different service or a slightly longer route. A less overbooked service means less chances for your cargo to be rolled.
- If your cargo is going to move inland, consider rerouting to an alternate port of discharge with different sailing options.
- If your shipment is absolute priority, there is always the option of shipping by air. However, air shipments are considerably more expensive even in normal conditions.
