Chinese New Year: how to prepare for the world's biggest logistics break

Every new year brings new challenges for the global supply chain, but one stands out for its impact, scope, and complexity: Chinese New Year.

And if the last peak season taught us anything, it's a clear lesson: anticipation, visibility, and adaptability are not optional. They are exactly what is needed to face the world's biggest logistics break.

What is Chinese New Year and why does it have such an impact?

Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in China and much of Asia. During this period, factories, ports, carriers, and offices operate on a limited basis or shut down completely for several weeks.

In 2026, the Year of the Fire Horse officially begins on February 17, marking an intense, dynamic, and transformative cycle that will end on March 3.

In logistical terms, this translates into peaks in demand, space saturation, rate increases, and widespread delays. For supply chains that depend on Asia, the impact is direct and significant.

Peak Season and Chinese New Year: same challenge, different context

As we read in our last post on the peak season, planning ahead and having operational visibility makes the difference between meeting deadlines and reacting too late.

• Chinese New Year replicates many of the same challenges:

• High concentration of shipments in narrow windows

• Limited capacity in maritime and air transport

• Constant changes in closing and reopening dates

• Pressure on inventories and delivery times

The difference is that here the calendar is known. The challenge is not the surprise, but how well previous lessons are applied.

When to start planning shipments?

Preparation does not begin in February; for many industries January is already too late.

General recommendations:

• Confirm volumes and orders with suppliers starting in December.

• Anticipate shipments at least 4 to 6 weeks before the start of the holiday.

• Review safety inventories to cover production stoppages.

• Secure alternative spaces and routes in advance.

As we learned in Peak Season, waiting for the market to become saturated increases risks and costs.

Common mistakes

Although Chinese New Year is a recurring event, many operations continue to make the same mistakes: underestimating the actual duration of the operational shutdown, relying on a single route or supplier, failing to communicate changes in a timely manner, and reacting when capacity is already compromised.

What is often overlooked is the impact these errors have beyond shipping. When planning fails, inventories become unbalanced: products that do not arrive on time force companies to increase safety stocks or, in the worst cases, cause shortages that affect sales and production.

In financial terms, delays and reactive decisions put pressure on cash flow. More expensive freight, unforeseen storage, and last-minute adjustments increase logistics costs and reduce profitability.

Perhaps the most critical impact is commercial. Missing agreed-upon deadlines, rescheduling deliveries, or failing to communicate in a timely manner affects trust with customers and strategic partners, putting long-term relationships at risk.

These mistakes are very similar to those seen during peak season, with equally costly consequences, but with one additional factor: the calendar is known. The difference is not in the context, but in how well the lessons learned are applied.

Practical recommendations to deal with the Chinese New Year

There is no better way to deal with this season than by applying the lessons we learned directly from the Peak Season:

1- Advance planning: define clear scenarios and deadlines.

2- Visibility: closely monitor production, shipments, and transit.

3- Flexibility: consider alternative routes, ports, and modes of transport.

4- Constant communication: align expectations with suppliers and customers.

5- Expert support: rely on a logistics partner who understands the context.

Looking ahead

If the last Peak Season taught us anything, it is that logistics is strengthened when we learn from each challenge. Today, those lessons are essential for facing the first major logistics challenge of 2026.

At Orbha Logistics, we help our customers transform experience into strategy, anticipating risks and strengthening their supply chains before the market comes to a halt.

Because being prepared is not about reacting early, it's about applying what you've learned when it matters most.