Preparing for China’s Golden Week 2021

China’s Golden Week is just around the corner! Please see the holiday arrangement for the Century team as follows:

• Century’s offices, in mainland, will be closed from October 1^st (Friday) to October 7^th (Thursday) for the Chinese National Holidays, with skeleton staff available to handle any priority shipments or urgent enquires.

• Century’s office will reopen on October 8^th (Friday); however, September 26^th (Sunday) and October 9^th (Saturday) will be considered as normal business days.

• Customs and most warehouses will also be closed during this period; however, some may continue to operate on selected days or with adjusted working hours.

• Ports will continue to operate as normal.

With a week-long national holiday, there could be an impact on your supply chain by generating delays on some of the biggest and busiest routes. With the current tight space during the peak season, vessel capacity will be further constrained as importers rush to get their orders ready from the factories. The price for both ocean and air freight will be going up due to cargo being overbooked which could result in cargo being rolled.

We recommend better prioritization of your hot merchandise so that not only can your suppliers ensure production timelines are met based on your demand forecasts, but so that our teams can book with carriers in advance to secure space for your hottest cargo. Following historical shipping trends, we anticipate carriers may start blank sailing in early October, around the golden week holiday, as most Chinese manufacturers, carrier offices, terminals, and customs will halt operations during that period.

To better anticipate the typical rush in September, we strongly recommend ensuring that your vendors place booking as soon as possible so that we can help with carrier bookings and securing equipment. There may be a need to consider using premium or express services if you need to expedite your goods out of China promptly before the long national holidays. We would be happy to work with you to establish a prioritization process for your cargo and can also connect with your vendors to check on cargo readiness.

If you have any questions related to your shipments to/from China in connection to Golden Week, CONTACT US now for further information and guidance.