December 15, 2021
See below our advice for air freight and ocean freight shipments prior to the Lunar New Year shutdown. Avoid further supply chain disruption and plan ahead. Read on for all you need to know about the Chinese New Year 2022.
Lunar New Year, which is also commonly called Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, celebrates the beginning of the New Year on the traditional Chinese calendar. It is celebrated in many countries throughout Asia, for example in Vietnam, the holiday is called Tet, the full name is "Tet Nguyen Dan".
According to the Chinese lunar calendar 2022, the Lunar New Year celebrations 2022 falls on Monday, February 1, 2022 when the year of the Tiger begins.
The legal holiday in China is usually seven days long but can differ from country to country. Generally, it starts from the Lunar New Year's Eve, otherwise known as Spring Festival Eve, to the sixth day of the first lunar month.
The official Chinese public holiday is likely to last from January 31st to February 6th. In some cases, the holiday period may allow for extended time off for workers. The Lunar New Year dates change every year because the festival is based on the Chinese lunar calendar. We advise getting your shipments prepared and ready because many factories will shut down in China and other countries celebrating the lunar calendar.
The Spring Festival starts on Chinese New Year (February 1st) and ends on the Lantern Festival (February 16th) in 2022.
The Chinese New Year holiday is a time for family reunions, a lot of people travel across China back to their hometowns to visit their parents and relatives. Thus a special phenomenon called Spring Festival Travel Rush or Spring Festival Migration arises before and after the Chinese New Year, every year so workers can spend time with family and friends who live further afield. The traditional red envelopes are given as gifts.
Many workers will head towards their home towns and quite often, factories release them from duties as early as the middle of January. In general, workers resume work after Lantern Festival. There are also some workers who decide to stay in the city where they work during the holiday, this enables factories to at least provide skeleton cover of work during the holiday season. Frequently, production sites will issue an office closure notice for chinese new year.
It is common for truck drivers to also return to their hometowns. Therefore, during the lunar new year period there is a lack of resources to pick up and deliver goods for export and import. Usually two weeks before the official holiday (this coming year, it begins on January 31st), so from January 17th, transportation resources will gradually become limited and costs can be expected to increase gradually. The peak will come in the last week before the holiday, as very few truck drivers will be available at that time.
Ocean carriers have not yet announced their plans for the holiday. In previous years, there would be blank sailings from the latter half of the public holiday to the 2nd week after the holiday. This year however, as many ocean vessels are queuing for berth at overseas ports (for example blocked by the congestion in the U.S. West Coast) the Chinese New Year holiday is a good opportunity for these vessels to take the time to unload at foreign ports and return to China. Detailed sailing schedules from point to point can be checked on carriers’ websites closer to the holiday period.
As for the air market, it is still early to predict the flight options that will be available during the Spring Festival. Our past experience is that there will be less flights during the Lunar New Year holiday period, and customs officials will only be on duty for half a day, every day. For cargo that is not urgent, we do not recommend clients to export during the one-week holiday, as there are no customs officials available to conduct customs inspection. This means if any cargo is randomly picked for inspection, the shipment will be held at the airport until inspection is completed after the holiday period. Our experience tells us that most importers prefer not to import cargo just a few days before and during the holiday in order to avoid incurrence of unnecessary storage or detention fees caused by issues on customs formalities or just being unable to clear.
For Ocean Import shipments into China, we suggest the latest ETA China port January 17th, 2022
For Air import shipments, if we aim to deliver before the holiday, we suggest to set the latest ETA of Destination Airport on January 23rd, 2022.
For urgent shipments, our China team is available to support and communication is vital from all parties to ensure a timely delivery.
Manufacturing facilities particularly in China usually close their doors to allow employees to enjoy the festive period with their families, planning ahead can help you achieve maximum benefit to your air freight, ocean freight, and logistics schedule and cost. The shutdown is likely to cause delays.
Due to the reduced amount of employees on-site during the festive period, production times may need to be extended. You will need to allow for not just longer production times but also an increased amount of time to receive your quotations.
Production slows down and a backlog of orders is often the case, factories, in general, will process orders from their regular clients and will assign priorities to their most valued clients.
Planning ahead of the site closures is critical and Crane Worldwide Logistics has a number of logistics solutions available to you. If your products allow for a longer delivery lead time, we can always find the best price for you via our ocean freight services, or if you need a faster shipping model, our China - Europe Rail Freight would be a great option may be of benefit to you as you due to the flexibility of various booking times according to the railway schedule.
We have strong relationships with our air freight partners, if this is your preferred option. In addition, Crane Worldwide can offer a road freight service from China to Europe, a reliable trucking service can provide multiple benefits to your supply chain requirements.
With supply chain disruption continuing to create problems for many to move their goods from China into both Europe and the United States, we advise to plan early for the Chinese New Year holidays. International trade has been impacted around the world and lunar new year holidays can create significant delays to your inventory production.
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In Asia, we have a strong presence throughout P.R. China as well as Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, and Indonesia. We are also located in Australia.
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