Short update on the general situation in the transport sector

Chinese New Year: Impact on logistics

In 2021, Chinese New Year falls on February 12, it is the biggest festival in China where people celebrate the beginning of a new year with their families. The week-long national public holiday has consequences on global supply chains.

The following information provides an overview of some key facts of the festival and its possible impacts on logistics.

Dates and key facts

• February 12, 2021 marks the start of the Chinese New Year (the year of Ox).
• Chinese national holiday begins on February 11 and ends on February 17, meaning that most of the businesses, including DACHSER branches in China, will be closed and resumes on February 18.
• Factories and manufacturing sites used to be closed for a longer period of time. Production might pause already one week before Chinese New Year, some factories will only resume one month after.
• The long holiday allows workers in the city to travel back to their hometown for a family reunion, though it might not be the case this year due to the pandemic.

Impact on supply chain

• Extensive holidays in China can lead to delays to your shipments for up to one month.
• Due to the abovementioned closing period of manufacturing industries, there will be no productions from China for at least a week. Even though factories will be restarting gradually, operations will not resume to full swing immediately.
• Productions from other countries in Asia will also be impacted as some parts might come from China or the assembling processes are done there.
• Most shippers will stock up inventories that are sufficient to cover the Chinese New Year period, this leads to a pre-holiday cargo rush; it will also take some time after the festival to normalize the market conditions.

Get prepared

To avoid unnecessary price hikes and delays, it is strongly recommended to place bookings well in advance. At DACHSER, our logistics experts can help you to plan together. Feel free to discuss with us about your needs and we can work out the best to maintain your supply chain uninterrupted throughout the Chinese New Year.

Statement on the current situation in regard to the spread of the COVID-19 virus

With this announcement, DACHSER is providing information on action to be taken to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus (also known as the coronavirus) within the DACHSER organization and in regard to the current status of operational activities as well as any possible impacts on our customers’ shipments.

In view of the current situation, specific guidelines for conduct and precautions have been rolled out within the global DACHSER organization. The actions to be taken include the establishment of a central reporting management system, regular assessment of the situation, and definition of additional action according to the situation. The relevant activities were also expanded and intensified on the basis of the existing hygiene management in the various areas (human resources, operational, and process hygiene).

In addition to these actions taken internally, DACHSER is complying with all current official regulations and taking appropriate precautions. In the event of restrictions applicable to individual locations, action plans are ready to be implemented in order to ensure that our network can continue to operate.

To enable a smooth process, we depend on being able to work together with all parties involved in the supply chains, including cooperation with truck drivers so that they will also be able to comply with increased hygiene regulations. We also fully integrated the drivers into our hygiene management and provided hand disinfectants at all locations.

We are doing everything possible to maintain our customers’ supply chains and prevent delays in shipments. If supply chains are to be affected in any way by checks, controls, flight cancellations, or the like, we will work to find alternative ways to ship the goods. We would also like to point out that the delivery times for consignments could be extended. However, the measures we have taken so far make us feel well equipped to deal with the current situation.To make this possible, it is essential that we maintain close coordination with our customers.

If you have any questions about your freight, please get in touch with your local point of contact at the respective branch of DACHSER.