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Chinese New Year 2024: How to maximise supply chain and logistics efficiency

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Chinese New Year 2024: How to maximise supply chain and logistics efficiency

Chinese New Year 2024: How to maximise supply chain and logistics efficiency

The Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is one of the most important holiday periods in China. For shippers and businesses, it presents specific logistical challenges. Production slows down, operations are limited, schedules get disrupted, and transportation gets delayed, thus leading to significant supply chain disruptions.

When is the Chinese New Year 2024?

One of the most important traditional Chinese holidays, the Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year, is celebrated in several East Asian countries, including China, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and North & South Korea. The dates vary each year because it follows the lunar calendar. Usually, the new year falls between January 21 and February 20. The celebrations last for 15 days, culminating with the Lantern Festival.

Note that preparations for Chinese New Year start three weeks in advance – with factories slowing down, shutting operations, and workers traveling back to their hometowns to celebrate the new year with their families.

In 2024, the Chinese New Year will commence on February 9 (Friday). The main festival will fall on February 10 (Saturday). The festivities will conclude with the Lantern Festival on February 24 (Saturday).

What is the impact of Chinese New Year 2024 on my shipping business

As a primary trade centre, especially for ocean freight shipping, slowdowns in China affect the global supply chain. During the Chinese New Year celebrations, almost all factories and manufacturers in China halt their processes, ports limit their operations, and workers are unavailable – thus disrupting the entire supply chain and logistical operations. This means:

  1. Factory closures lead to disrupted supply
  2. Decreased workforce and halted operations
  3. Increased shipping demand before the holiday week
  4. Peak season means high congestion at ports
  5. Higher shipping costs and processing time
  6. Shortage of containers and vessels for exports

How you can prepare your supply chain for Chinese New Year 2024 closures

Preparing and planning is the key to managing your logistics and supply chain operations to minimise the effect of the Chinese New Year on your business. Following a proactive approach becomes essential. Here’s how you can prepare your business during peak seasons while keeping your supply chain agile:

  1. Evaluate your logistics partners for reliability and resources
  2. Plan ahead and communicate your needs clearly
  3. Pre-book containers or vessel space
  4. Leverage data for effective inventory management
  5. Opt for smaller, multiple shipments instead of a full container load

Tips to prevent shipping delays during Lunar New Year 2024

In preparation for CNY, delays in shipping are a major concern. But, with the right strategies, you can minimise disruptions and ensure a smooth flow of goods. Here are a few tips to maintain a reliable and efficient supply chain during the Chinese New Year 2024:

  1. Consider shipping through various types of containers
  2. Diversify your modes of shipping
  3. Choose ports with lower congestion and faster TATs
  4. Manage your employees’ holiday schedules
  5. Maintain a contingency Chinese New Year shipping budget

Read more at Chinese New Year 2024: How to maximise supply chain and logistics efficiency

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Chinese New Year: Tips to Keep Your Supply Chain Efficient!

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Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year: Tips to Keep Your Supply Chain Efficient!

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and more and more freight companies are working on how to sustain productivity and efficiency.

For small businesses that are new to experiencing this holiday, during Chinese New Year, some China-based companies are temporarily shutting down their activities to celebrate and administer different superstitions to have a healthy and prosperous New Year.

And this is also the time of year where freight demands shoot up, prices increase, and containers easily become full making it expensive and difficult to import.

In this infographic, we will discuss different tips on how your supply chain can keep up this Chinese New Year. Here are a few considerations that you can apply:

Confirm your Supplier’s Schedule

Making sure that you verify on your supplier’s schedule which days they would not be operating makes you also adjust the timing of your operations. Being mindful and alert with your suppliers especially in places where different holidays are celebrated gives you time to maneuver and interact smoothly with your supply chain.

Place your Orders in Advance

As mentioned earlier, consulting your suppliers beforehand with their schedules can help you adjust to their absence, and this also applies to the flow of your orders. Placing your orders in advance won’t only help you avoid delays, it will also help you manage your expenses and find space for your shipments.

Collaborate with a Trusted Local Freight Forwarder

As your company grows, more and more reliable freight partners are merging to aid your supply chain dilemma and goals. In times where different holidays are celebrated, it is essential to find help with local freight forwarders to help you cope up with your scheduled deliveries.

Read more at Chinese New Year: Tips to Keep Your Supply Chain Efficient!

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THE CHRISTMAS SUPPLY CHAIN: MORE ‘HO HO HO’, LESS ‘OH NO NO’

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THE CHRISTMAS SUPPLY CHAIN: MORE ‘HO HO HO’, LESS ‘OH NO NO’

In the United States the day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. Originally it earned its name because of the disruption caused by the post holiday crowds. Lately, however, Black Friday earns its moniker because it’s the day when U.S. retailers supposedly hit profitability for the year. Falling as it does in late November it’s become the busiest shopping day in the American calendar.

Managing seasons and public holidays is a never-ending task for retailers. If there isn’t a public holiday then there will be a new season starting, or another one wrapping up with a sale.

Of all these special events, Christmas is undoubtedly the most important, and puts enormous pressure on supply chain managers to ensure products are available and that everything moves smoothly through the season. After all, it is the weeks just before Christmas that, in many retail sectors, determine a business’s financial health; John Lewis, for instance, reportedly generates 80% of its annual profits during Christmas period.

The challenges that retailers face during Christmas naturally vary according on the sector and from company to company. For many specialty retailers, having to cope with long lead times, Christmas challenges centre around estimating the season’s demand both well in advance and accurately; not an easy task. For grocers the problem is less about lead times and longterm forecasting but more the sheer volume of everything, which requires careful capacity planning and good execution. Lastly there are those retailers for whom Christmas is a nonevent – in fact, one that might even cause sales to drop as customers spend their pennies elsewhere.

Yet while plenty has been written about the Christmas retail season and pages are devoted to analysing Christmas successes and failures, there’s very little been published about the underlying supply chain challenges. So, to address this deficit, here is an overview of the Christmas-related hurdles that supply chains face, with some suggestions on how to tackle them.
Supply chain problems are generally most readily solved one at a time, by continuous improvement of the process, and not by trying to fix everything at once.

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