CHINESE NEW YEAR 2021

The Republic of China is already preparing for the longest national holiday – the Chinese New Year. The period from 11th to 17th February 2021 was officially declared non-working.

It is expected that the abnormally high freight rates will remain until the end of the holidays, and the excitement with shipments before the start of the holidays will create an even more difficult situation with the free space on vessels and the availability of free equipment. Shippers will face problems with a shortage of workers and truckers who choose to return to their hometowns to celebrate the New Year. There is an additional obstacle in the form of a global pandemic, authorities in different cities can tighten security measures and cancel / cut transport links with barges to reduce possible contact between employees and seafarers, as there is a possibility of bringing the virus into their homes.

Due to limited crews as a result of COVID-19, we have received formal notifications from barge service providers that the coverage of China’s river ports (Fangcheng, Qinzhou, Beihai, Zhanjiang, Yangpu, Haikou, Shantou, Shuidong, Lianhuashan, Xintang, Jiaoxin, Wuzhou) will be unavailable from January 20, 2021 until the end of February.

By the way, the sea line “CMA CGM” reports that due to restrictions, feeder operators in South China and Hong Kong announced an early suspension from January 5 to February 21, 2021. In light of the current situation, transportation to most ports in South China is temporarily suspended.

Considering all of the above, we advise our import clients to already start pushing shippers in order to close current orders on time. Try to arrange shipments before the holidays as soon as possible to avoid risks of delays. For our export customers, we are trying to get extra time in destination point for shipments shipped to China on public holidays – it is a common practice for lines to continue stable operation after the end of the celebrations.