Golden Week 2025
China's National Day Golden Week, observed from October 1st to 7th, commemorates the founding of the People's Republic of China. Golden week 2025 also includes the Mid-Autumn Festival on October 6th, extending Golden Week to October 8th, one day longer than the national holiday typically lasts.
Golden Week is a week-long celebration when China is all about parades, celebrations, ceremonies, travel, get-togethers, and other such festivities, serving as a key driver for retail, hospitality, and transportation sectors.
During the holiday, factories and offices shut down across the nation. However, the ports and customs departments remained operational with skeleton staffs.
How will Golden Week impact shipments?
In addition to a nationwide shutdown of Chinese businesses, there’s also a domestic surge in demand for goods during Golden Week and the Mid-Autumn Festival. The impact on shipments created by Golden Week includes:
Pre-Golden Week rush
A pre-Golden Week volume surge can be seen each year, three or four weeks before the holiday. Because of the closure during the holiday, many businesses face a rush to fulfil orders and arrange shipments in advance.
The month leading up to Golden Week features frenetic business activity as importers rush to ship before the holiday. This activity eats into available freight space while driving up rates for both ocean and air shipping. You can expect overbooked carriers, limited trucking availability, and rising prices as service providers capitalise on the holiday.
Shortages in Port Operations
Port staff also take vacations during holidays, leading to a shortage of frontline manpower. The efficiency of port processes such as loading/unloading, customs clearance, and ship scheduling declines, and congestion phenomena such as cargo backlogs and ship queuing even occur.
Surge in Domestic Transportation Demand
The period before holidays is often a peak for domestic consumers' stockpiling and population movement. The manufacturers and retailers are busy with purchasing and transportation in preparation for the upcoming holiday in advance to cope with holiday shutdowns, driving up logistics demand. On the other hand, people returning to their hometowns or travelling causes a surge in pressure on civil transportation such as roads, railways, and aviation, squeezing freight capacity. Eventually, the transportation market faces "supply shortages," with rising freight rates and extended timeliness, further exacerbating the slowness of goods circulation.
Outside of China: shortage of capacity and equipment
Ocean freight carriers would prioritize allocating more space to cargo originating from China, consequently reducing available capacity for shipments from other countries. The only viable solution is to wait until the backlog eases.
Equipment availability poses another challenge, as containers from other Southeast Asian countries begin shifting to China from mid-August through September.
Post-holiday persistence
Anyone expecting operations to return to normal immediately after Golden Week is sorely mistaken. Post-holiday, pent-up demand will keep volumes elevated, further straining the supply chain—resulting in extended lead times and ongoing disruptions.
Being proactive in navigating the challenges
China's Golden Week logistics delays are quite common for international businesses. A proactive approach with an advanced plan and adjusting shipping schedules is the best way to avoid rising rates, tight capacity, and delays due to the Golden Week. Shippers are encouraged to book in advance to secure the necessary space and are advised to do so at least 3-4 weeks before the event.
Even so, you never know what kind of obstacles you can encounter during the rush of peak season. When sudden issues or opportunities arise, please contact us for assistance. As an experienced and reliable logistics partner with flexibility, we help to ensure your supply chain runs smoothly.
