Navigating Chinese New Year 2025: What shippers need to know

Chinese New Year - also known as the Spring Festival - is one of the biggest and most important festivals in Asia. During this time, factories across China and other Asian countries shut down for 1–4 weeks, with many workers take extended breaks to visit family and friends inland.

In 2025, Chinese New Year (CNY) falls earlier than usual and will last for eight days- running from January 28 to February 4th. Factories are expected to begin shutting down as early as mid-January, much earlier than usual, as preparations for the holiday period commence.

Supply Chain managers will need to prepare for prolonged factory closures and the flow-on effect for production timelines and shipping schedules. Shippers seeking 2025 contract rates, will also need to bring negotiations forward to account for the disruption.

In this blog, we’ll outline critical holiday shutdown dates, what to expect, and actionable tips to help you get ahead of both the shutdowns and early contract negotiations. Here’s how to tackle Lunar New Year with confidence.

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Plan for bottlenecks.

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Asian and Australian ports are currently experiencing congestion due to peak season volumes, extreme weather, and other factors. With the Chinese New Year holiday and the potential for another ILA strike in early January, these bottlenecks are likely to intensify, further extending shipment transit times even after operations resume. 

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Top tips for staying ahead: 

• Engage Early with Suppliers: Start reaching out now to confirm closure dates, finalise requirements and lock in production schedules for January/February. 
• Accelerate Purchase Orders: Adjust purchasing programmes to ensure priority goods are manufactured and dispatched ahead of the holiday shutdown.
• Collaborate on Shipping Schedules: Work closely with logistics providers to plan effectively and respond quickly to schedule changes. At this stage we recommend shippers add 7-14 days of buffer time to their standard schedules.
• Take control of deliveries: As congestion increases, the ability to predict release times and secure preferred delivery slots decreases. Ask your forwarder to provide access to tools (like the Explorate app) that allow self-booking of slots, prioritisation of containers and live container tracking. This will help your team to book and manage deliveries on the fly, reducing knock-on issues from delays.

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Impacts on Contract Negotiations and Planning

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Contract rates typically commence after the Chinese New Year holiday period for the following 12 months or more.  With this year’s festival coinciding with the usual negotiation period, it’s important to begin contract discussions in Q4 to ensure you are on track for the coming season. 

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Top tip: Weaponise supply chain data

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Strengthen your contract negotiations with reliable, data-driven insights that allow you to negotiate better terms.

• Nail the Brief: Centralise your supply chain data so you can easily speak to FY24 volumes and spend, trade lane activity and peak periods.
• Leverage Performance Data: Break down trade lane, supplier and carrier performance over the last 6-12 months for increased accountability and alignment. 
• Benchmark Industry Data: Compare your rates, transit times and on-time performance against current industry standards. Is the offer competitive? 

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Keep an eye out for our upcoming blog, ‘Navigating Contract Season with Confidence’ where we’ll share the latest data, insights and recommendations for 2025 negotiations.

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Be ready for Lunar New Year.

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Preparing for Lunar New Year early can make all the difference in maintaining a steady supply flow and avoiding additional costs and disruptions. If you need help crafting a tailored solution or expert guidance during this peak period, our team is ready to help.

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Start a free 60 day trial of the Explorate app and finish 2024 strong with real-time container tracking and a single window into your supply chain performance data (no matter which or how many forwarders you use).

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