More sailing cancellations forecast during Chinese Golden Week

Shippers could face more difficulties in the coming weeks ahead of expectations of more sailing cancellations during China's Golden Week holiday in early October.

Golden-week-in-China-shipping

More sailing cancellations forecast during Golden Week in China

Record-high freight rates in recent weeks can be seen in many global freight rates index, such as the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), Drewry’s composite World Container Index, Ningbo Container Freight Index (NCFI) and Baltic Freight Index (FBX) are not expected to decline in the coming months.

The partial closure of the port of Ningbo (due to the closure of the Ningbo Meishan terminal) so close to the Chinese Golden Week holiday, is ideal for shipping lines to execute another round of blank sailings.

With a peak period of three to four weeks before the golden week event, importers will require accelerated production in order to ship their products out of China on time. Restrictions in sea and land transport increase the risk of goods being dropped and deliveries delayed.

Closer to the national holiday in China, shipping lines will often plan to cancel many sailings to ports in the country due to the subsequent drop in demand when factories are closed for a period of time holidays and thus rates continue to be pushed higher.

Although many sailing cancellations close to Golden Week is a traditional practice intended to make up for the low demand afterwards. But this year, shippers still expect shipping lines to maintain full fleet deployments on trans-Pacific routes due to strong demand and soaring freight rates.

Maersk said in an announcement that "This year’s Golden Week might as well increase the number of repercussions in ocean freight and inland transportation across multiple trades and regions."

The Danish carrier notes that while operations can still remain open at most ports and customs offices - ocean carriers may limit operations during this period.

"To avoid waiting for the typical pre-golden week rush, we strongly recommend you to book your containers as soon as possible", Maersk said.

See more: