A few months ago we wrote a quick post on the topic of Chinese New Year and its effects on freight forwarding. Chinese New Year has greatly altered how freight forwarding works in the winter months, not just for imports and exports with China but with the entire Asian marketplace. Chinese New Year presents a domino effect for freight forwarding companies and with updates on Chinese Tariffs in 2019, this New Year is shaping up to be significantly complex.
For those who do not know, The Chinese New Year is China’s biggest holiday. In America, we have a few holidays with varying levels of importance ranging from Thanksgiving to Christmas and the Fourth of July, but in China, they primarily celebrate the New Year. This year the holiday will begin on January 25th. And it will be celebrated from the 24th to mid-February. Working professionals throughout China are often given a full week off to celebrate, with some factories giving even more time for travel needs. Because of this, there is a rush in December and early January for Chinese factories to overproduce.
As mentioned above, the end of December marks a time where many manufacturers will attempt to overproduce for the holiday. This increase in supply is designed to alleviate the shortages of labor that will exist around the holiday season. Interestingly, this lines up well with the Western world’s observation of Christmas and other gift-giving holidays in December. In America and Europe, the increase in demand for imports starting in late November and stretching to the end of December matches the increased production that happens in China before the holiday. With these two factors interacting simultaneously, the logistics of importing from China or Asian ports during December and into January and February become much more complex. This complexity is heightened with the recent tariffs and counter-tariffs that were enacted throughout the fall.
For companies that ship exports to China, there will be challenges in January and February. With the extended holiday, many shipping ports and supply chains will slow down. This doesn’t just affect trade between America and China. Surrounding ports in Asia will also see an increase in workload because of China’s holiday season. That is why it is valuable to prepare your shipping schedule around the holiday with a freight forwarding company that has experience in international shipping with China. By utilizing agencies worldwide it is easier to manage inland transportation, cross-docking, and consolidation even during this season.
If your company plans to do any shipping in early 2020 in the Asian marketplace, you should contact Bruning International. We have decades of experience and an extensive list of agencies we work with throughout China. With our experience and capabilities, we can help set up a shipping schedule that works for you and optimizes the effects of the Chinese New Year.