Ways Chinese New Year Will Impact Freight Rates

Chinese New Year (CNY) is a Chinese festival that designates the beginning of New Year for the Chinese people as per the traditional Chinese calendar. It is so renowned because it marks the beginning of a lunar new year. The trading between China and the rest of the world is momentously affected during the time of New Year due to celebrations in china.

## 1. Impact on Transportation Road Transportation to and from Ports will be motionless during the time of the Chinese new year, which can have a direct impact on the shipping activities of products and goods. You may not be able to get your shipment before one or two weeks of the Chinese new year. It is a strong possibility that the shipment will not move forward and will stay where it is, for at least two weeks after the Chinese New Year. In the recent past, it has been witnessed that some of the road transport shipping services are kept open during the New Years’ time. However, even those are ineffective in making the shipments reach their destination within the deadline. All of this accumulates and affect the freight rate such that it might double.

## 2. Decrease in the Efficiency of Chinese Freight Forwarders companies Chinese Freight Forwarders companies will not operate at their usual pace over the New Year period. All the ports of china will be busy and congested due to the arrival of the previous orders in the weeks before and after the Chinese New Year. Not only the road transport system but also the airports will be flooded up with large demands of shipping of cargo. The last-minute orders, mainly those orders which will be placed in January, might not be shipped on time. Even if the orders will be shipped, the issue of quality will be associated with them.

## 3. Impact on Customer Authorities Customs Clearance at Chinese Ports and Airports will give rise to major issues in the shipping of the products. The customs authorities have a role in the import and export of products. Usually, the customs authorities go for shorter breakers of two to three days during the Chinese New Year. However, even that break can increase the processing time drastically.

## 4. Impact on Production It is not at all astonishing that the production is halted one or two weeks before the Chinese New Years' Eve as most workers leave for holidays to visit their families. If the workers will not be available then the mass production of goods in factories will not take place. The businesses can be obstructed greatly as even the sample orders will not be produced during the Chinese New Year. The shipping of products will also get affected because the situation will not be in the control of even the supplier. In addition to this, the subcontractors will also be at a standstill around a week before the Chinese New Year.

## 5. Impact of long-lasting holidays The Chinese New Year will cause further delays as the production will also be paused for a minimum of two weeks after it will be over. Astonishingly, the official holidays last only for one week after the New Year, but since this is the only holiday the workers get to visit their loved ones, they usually extend their holidays by a week or two. The main reason behind the slow supply is the shortage of production due to the absence of workers. Due to the deficiency of workers, sometimes the work is even halted for three weeks after the New Year.

## 6. Number of Workers Reduce after the New year Holidays Getting operations back to normal will take up to a month or more because certain workers do not even return to their prior organisations and employers, and tend to quit or change jobs without giving any official notice, or making any prior announcement. The shortage of workers affects the business in a negative way. Due to the less number of workers, the shipping will be disrupted in the Chinese market. It becomes really hectic for employers and organisations to find skilled and trained workers. As a consequence, they look for new workers and they have to invest cost and time in making the employees comprehend their job. Due to change of workers, the risk of quality issues will be at its threshold. This could lead to a shortage in the number of orders and indirectly affect the shipping process also. The Chinese New Year officially lasts for one week but there will be a large number of factories and businesses that will be shut down for about 10 days before the New Year to give enough time for their employees to travel.

## 7. Difficulty in Placing of New Orders The placing of new orders will also be difficult, sometimes the orders cannot be placed as most of the factories, and businesses will be completely shut down a week before the New Year. As many of the suppliers and businesses will stop accepting orders, it will become intolerable to place the order at the desired time. Furthermore, the delivery and shipping process will take even more time to reach the destination. Some of the suppliers will accept the orders even during the New Year time; however, they can confront a shortage of products and services. Around 80 million workers travelled by road, train, and plane back to their hometowns during the Chinese new year in 2015. In the late 1970s, economic reforms were responsible for the growth seen in Shenzhen, Xiamen, and Zhuhai.

## 8. Lack of Backup Suppliers Chinese New Year will also make it problematic for the people to find backup suppliers as almost all the suppliers present in China will not be active during that period. If you operate in some other country and you need goods from the supplier in China in order to manufacture your products, then you might have to slow down or stop your production activities. Chinese New Year will also impact the quality of the products and goods. This is because the quality check management will also be going to their hometowns during that period. In the absenteeism of the quality check manager, the risk of delayed shipment due to bad quality or imperfect goods will upsurge.