Lunar New Year 2022 | Logistics Operations in North Asia

Container deliveries and customs clearance ought to be completed before the holiday.

It's likely that carriers in China will collect all bookings to arrange space in advance of Lunar New Year, and those flights are expected to run during the holiday. Carriers may cancel some flights during this period if all cargo has been cleared, and capacity will therefore remain unchanged. In Taiwan and South Korea, carriers' offices will be closed but basic operations will still be in place.

Rail carriers will operate with a reduced service shortly before and after the holidays, and there will be a shortage of available drivers.

Drivers will usually stop working during this time. While it may be possible to check for available drivers during the holiday, this will likely be at any extremely high cost.

In China, local resources such as warehousing and trucking allocations will need to be assigned before January 23.

Air Freight bookings in North Asia will be accepted prior to the holiday, however early booking is strongly advised as larger shipments may be difficult to secure close to the last working day.

Rail bookings will generally be accepted until the last working day prior to the holiday, but please be advised that capacity will be checked on a case-by-case basis.

Road bookings can be placed at any time, however capacity will need to be checked on a case-by-case basis.

Röhlig China and Röhlig Hong Kong will be able to offer advice on document cut-off closer to the the holiday. Currently, Röhlig Taiwan advises a cut off of three days prior to the holiday's start, while three working days before departure remains the norm in South Korea.

Document cut-off in China is one day prior to the flight date, but customers are advised to consider a deadline of two days in advance in case of any unforseen issues. In Hong Kong, Air Freight document cut-off before the holiday is January 30.

If the ETD is scheduled during the holiday, all documentation must be submitted before Jan 27.

For trucking shipments, there is no fixed ETD. The document cut-off is before the truck's arrival at the border.

Flights, customs, suppliers and other relevant authorities will maintain basic operations during the holiday, but there may be delays due to delivery slowdown (see Trucking).

There is an estimated delay of approximately 1-2 weeks.

Due to low operational efficiency during Lunar New Year and strict Covid-19 prevention policies, shipments are likely to be delayed at borders waiting for reloading for departures. Please also be aware in advance that borders will be closed between Jan 1-3 as normal, with the schedule currently remaining unclear due to the Covid-19 situation.

Sea Freight communications will be upheld between Röhlig, carriers, and overseas personnel.

Communications will be upheld by our teams in North Asia, however there may be delays due to reduced staff numbers both at Röhlig and all relevant parties.

The Röhlig Rail Team will uphold communications between our customers, carriers, and overseas personnel.

Communications will be upheld between Röhlig, carriers, and overseas personnel with some delays.

Early indications are that the Sea Freight market may continue to be heavily influenced by Covid-19 prevention measures, equipment shortages and congestion.

The North Asia market, carrier capacity and operations capacity are expected to remain the same, but will still be heavily subject to the pandemic situation. 

Capacity shortages for Rail services are expected to persist after the holiday.

Capacity shortages for Trucking services are expected to persist after the holiday.