Chinese New Year 2023- Prepare your business for the impact
Chinese New Year is one of the yearly occurrences that has a substantial impact on the global freight market. The production in Chinese factories is more or less put on hold in connection with the celebration, and the transport capacity is significantly reduced across all means of transport. If you are not already considering this impact in your business planning, now is the time to do so.
16/12/2022
The Chinese New Year, also referred to as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is one of the most significant Chinese celebrations. The upcoming Chinese New Year will be the Year of the Rabbit and will fall on 22nd January 2023, and runs for 16 days until 5th February. In connection with the celebration, a seven-day public holiday will be held between 22nd January and 29th January.
On any given year, the Chinese New Year impacts the capacity to and from China and the Far East in general. The usual consequences of this include long transit times, flight cancellations and blank sailing, which have a significant impact on the global freight market for weeks after the Chinese New Year. However, this year, several extraordinary factors cause a great deal of uncertainty about what the impact of the upcoming Chinese New Year will be. That said, we expect to see an exceptional demand for transportation of goods in a market that is characterised by limited capacity.
Plan ahead and think in alternatives
To prepare your business for the upcoming Chinese New Year, we recommend that you consider creating a forecast for a longer period of time. In this forecast, it is important to not only make a plan for the time before the Chinese New Year, but also for the time that comes after the celebration, as the repercussions of the Chinese New Year might be felt well into the spring. For this reason, you might also benefit from considering a deeper inventory than normal to support an easier end user delivery in your supply chain in the time after the Chinese New Year.
Furthermore, it is not uncommon that businesses without strategic supplier relationships face additional challenges with orders ahead of the Chinese New Year. There is a massive pressure on the suppliers in this period, and because of this, many of them have to prioritise their orders and customers. We therefore recommend to invest additional time and resources in your suppliers throughout the year and work towards confirming a diversified supplier pool if you have not already done so.
Finally, we encourage you to reach out to your local DSV office. We are here to assist you, and through our extensive global network and vast experience in navigating any market situation, our skilled colleagues can help you find alternatives and provide you with the best solutions for your business’ logistics needs.
Understand the unusual circumstances
Although the impact of the upcoming Chinese New Year cannot yet be determined, we expect that certain factors are likely to have a significant influence on how the situation will look in the coming months. These factors include COVID-19 restrictions and the global supply chain congestion.
In China, many people return to their hometowns to celebrate the Chinese New Year with their families, and this usually has a significant impact on the manpower in most Chinese workplaces. At the same time, the global market continues to be historically challenged, with supply chains that are under severe pressure.
To learn more
If you are already a customer to DSV and have any questions about your transport solutions or scheduled shipments from China, please reach out to your dedicated contact person at DSV.
If you are not yet a customer to DSV and wish to find out what DSV can do for your business, please fill out the contact form below.
Any questions?
Our experts are ready to help. Get in touch and we'll find the solution you need.
