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Chinese New Year: Impact on logistics

In 2021, Chinese New Year falls on February 12, it is the biggest festival in China where people celebrate the beginning of a new year with their families. The week-long national public holiday has consequences on global supply chains. 

The following information provides an overview of some key facts of the festival and its possible impacts on logistics.

Dates and key facts

• February 12, 2021 marks the start of the Chinese New Year (the year of Ox).
• Chinese national holiday begins on February 11 and ends on February 17, meaning that most of the businesses, including DACHSER branches in China, will be closed and resumes on February 18.
• Factories and manufacturing sites used to be closed for a longer period of time. Production might pause already one week before Chinese New Year, some factories will only resume one month after.
• The long holiday allows workers in the city to travel back to their hometown for a family reunion, though it might not be the case this year due to the pandemic.

Impact on supply chain

• Extensive holidays in China can lead to delays to your shipments for up to one month.
• Due to the abovementioned closing period of manufacturing industries, there will be no productions from China for at least a week. Even though factories will be restarting gradually, operations will not resume to full swing immediately.
• Productions from other countries in Asia will also be impacted as some parts might come from China or the assembling processes are done there.
• Most shippers will stock up inventories that are sufficient to cover the Chinese New Year period, this leads to a pre-holiday cargo rush; it will also take some time after the festival to normalise the market conditions.

To avoid unnecessary price hikes and delays, it is strongly recommended to place bookings well in advance. At DACHSER, our logistics experts can help you to plan together. Feel free to discuss with us about your needs and we can work out the best to maintain your supply chain uninterrupted throughout the Chinese New Year.

Sea Freight: Disruptions at Ningbo and Tianjin Ports

Regarding the disruptions at Ningbo ports, we would like to give you an update. Recently, a Covid outbreak has occurred in Tianjin. Below we offer you an overview of the current situation.

Ningbo

• At Ningbo, the authority has downgraded the emergency level. Correspondingly, the temporary closure of the Beilun district is lifted, except the centre of the epidemic.
• Currently, most of the trucking companies are granted permits to enter the Beilun district. In general, our operation of FCL and LCL are mostly back to normal with some delays of vessels due to port congestion.
• There are isolated Covid cases reported in the cities within the Zhejiang province, but it is not affecting the operations in Ningbo, except for pick-ups and deliveries from those locations.

Tianjin

Over the weekend, multiple Covid cases were reported in Tianjin and some of the cases were tested positive to the Omicron variants. In response to this incident, a mass PCR test campaign has been conducted for all residents in the city.

• It is reported that four out of the eight sea freight terminals in Tianjin are closed, only vehicles with special permits are granted access to enter.
• Pick-ups and deliveries in and from other provinces are unlikely under the current situation.
• Pick-ups and deliveries within the city are also at a halt, as the residents of the whole city will be staying at home until the mass PCR test campaign is completed and the results are available.
• At the DACHSER branch in Tianjin, our employees will work from home until the negative results are available.

We will continue to monitor the situation and rest assured that you will be informed of the developments. In case you have any questions, please contact your local representative of DACHSER for a discussion of possible transport alternatives.

The new DACHSER magazine is here!

As the year draws to a close, many of us use this time to look back and reflect, but also to prepare ourselves for the new challenges of the future. And that’s exactly what we’ve done in the latest issue of the DACHSER magazine.