How will Lunar New Year 2024 affect shipping?

Sea Freight personnel will be on leave in Greater China, and carriers may roll out blank sailings shortly before the holiday.

Ground-transportation in South Korea will continue to operate, however costs increase as a result.

Warehouses will remain closed during Lunar New Year holiday throughout North Asia.

In Vietnam, carrier offices will close for the duration of the holidays. For sea freight imports to Vietnam, please send pre-alerts or draft pre-alerts to VN.SEA.IMPORTS@rohlig.com five days prior to ETA. Warehouses and terminals will maintain operations but with shorter shifts and reduced personnel, so expect delays.

Air Freight carriers in mainland China will stop accepting bookings prior to Lunar New Year and may cancel later flights if stock finishes. Meanwhile, truck services may cost up to 2-3 times higher at least 3 days prior to the holiday and up to 1 week after. Carriers, terminals and customs remain on duty during the holiday, but with less capacity. This may cause delays. Domestic trucking pickup and delivery will experience more severe delays.

In Taiwan, air freight carriers and customs will close during Lunar New Year.

Röhlig Logistics South Korea advise that air freight carriers' offices will be closed but basic operations will still be in place.

For air fright imports to Vietnam, be advised that the original House Air Waybill (HAWB), Master Air Waybill (MAWB) and Air Manifest must be delivered together.

Westbound and eastbound rail transport will remain open during the Lunar New Year holiday, however services are expected to slow down as drivers in North and Southeast Asia take personal holiday leave.

Road services do not shut down completely during Lunar New Year, however operational costs may increase and services may slow down due to a reduced number of available drivers.

For trucking related to sea and air freight, please refer to the sea and air freight sections.

Due to warehouse closures across North Asia, expect contract logistics services and staff to be unavailable during the Lunar New Year holiday.

When booking a sea freight shipment prior to Lunar New Year, allow for extra time due to the rush of cargo and early operations closures. Booking two weeks in advance of vessel departure is advised in Greater China and South Korea.

In Taiwan, sea freight bookings will be accepted until Feb 1, subject to space and equipment availability.

Bookings are accepted in Southeast Asia at any time up to Lunar New Year but be aware of space availability.

Air freight bookings in Greater China and South Korea will be accepted up until the last day before the Lunar New Year holiday.

In Taiwan, air freight bookings will be accepted until Feb 6.

Rail bookings can be placed at any time before the Lunar New Year holiday. However, this is dependent on the available space during reduced services, and the quotation and ETD must be confirmed.

Bookings are accepted for China-Central Asia road transport 3 weeks prior to Lunar New Year, while China-ASEAN routes are accepted one week prior.

Due to contract logistics service downtime during Lunar New Year, final bookings are accepted until two days prior to the holiday.

Röhlig Logistics China estimates document cut-off to be 3 days before the start of Lunar New Year.

Röhlig Logistics Korea advises 4-5 prior to ETD.

In Taiwan, document cut-off varies by carrier, and we advice customers to ideally consider Feb 1 as latest doc cut-off date.

Document cut-off varies by carrier and sailing schedule in Singapore and Vietnam, follow carrier’s booking confirmation, but it is advisable to have documentation submitted by Feb 8.

In mainland China and South Korea prior to Lunar New Year, customers are advised to stick to a document cut-off date two days in advance of the flight date in case of any unforseen issues.

In Taiwan, we advise having air freight documents ready by Feb 6.

Document cut off for WB flows estimated to be ETD-7 days, while EB flows are estimated to be ETD-5 days.

For road transport, China-Central Asia route document cut-off is on the day of pick-up, while China-ASEAN routes are estimated to be 1 day before pick-up.

Document cut-off for contract logistics is at least two days prior to the Lunar New Year holiday, in case of early closures.

Röhlig Logistics China advises that some delays may occur as air freight personnel return from the Lunar New Year holiday. The market is expected to recover quickly depending on external economic factors.

Rail delays are expected, with normal services predicted to resume up to 20 days after the Lunar New Year holiday in mainland China. Email the Röhlig Rail Team to maintain close contact with your Product Manager and Operations Team. Services including trucking will need to be checked case-by-case up to 4 weeks prior to the holiday. Westbound station-in cut-off dates are likely to be adjusted, while eastbound flows arriving during the holiday may face detention, demurrage, and/or higher trucking costs for delivery.

In mainland China, trucking delays are expected at the border during the Lunar New Year holiday. Previously this has always been 3 days during the holiday, but was extended to 7 days in 2022 due to the pandemic. Normal operations are estimated to resume 15 days after the holiday for China-Central Asia routes and 7 days after the holiday for China-ASEAN. We advise customers to keep in close contact with your Röhlig Logistics representative and provide an early forecast where possible. Be prepared for rising costs as well as low efficiency as many customs officers will be off-duty. 

Contract Logistics personnel will be on leave for Lunar New Year, with operations scheduled to resume February 18. Be advised that some backlog may need to clear.