Chinese New Year 2024 and the Logistics Industry

One of the Major celebrations in Asia is Chinese New Year, which falls between January 21 and February 20, depending on the lunar calendar.

China being part of the list of countries celebrating the Lunar new year, and also a country that holds the largest ports in the world, will have an effect on global logistics.

This 2024, Chinese New Year begins on February 10th and celebrations will last for 2 weeks (15 days) culminating with a Lantern parade. During this time (and some time before the 10th), shipping companies anticipate this event’s impact to their businesses:

• Factory closures: Since most companies close down during this time, production will potentially slow down due to delay in supply of goods.
• Slowed down operations due to less workforce: During this time, most workers also take their leave causing companies to operate slower than usual.
• High demand for shipping and port congestion before the festivities start: In anticipation of disruptions, a spike in demand for shipping of various goods is expected, thus congesting ports and slowing down the usual timeline of shipments.
• Brief increase on shipping costs: Due to the high demand, an increase in cost for freight and documentation is expected
• Potential container shortage: As part of the domino effect, the increased demand may also result to a shortage of empty containers, which will cause disruption to operations

As we see an effect on logistics operations, we advise clients and partners to plan ahead and closely coordinate with our customer service team to ensure that your operations will not be heavily affected by this event, or at the least, be able to mitigate the effects.