Seko tells China shippers: book ocean freight four weeks out for 2027 lunar new year

Seko Logistics is urging shippers sourcing from China to confirm ocean bookings at least four weeks ahead of shipment, as the 2027 lunar new year falls on 6 February — 11 days earlier than in 2026 — and threatens to compress the window for moving cargo before factory closures.

Paul Lockwood, Seko's managing director for the UK and Ireland, said the adjustment has already begun. He told The Loadstar: "We are already seeing customers adjust critical path planning to bring their ex-factory dates forward to allow for the earlier lunar new year."

One shipper has gone a step further. "One customer has advised they raised their purchase order with their suppliers three weeks before the typical purchase order date to account for this, and to ensure they are not 'back of the queue' in the production cycle," Lockwood said.

Why is the pre-holiday window so tight?

The concern is straightforward: orders placed too late risk missing pre-holiday shipping windows and facing delays as exporters compete for capacity — pressure felt across Asian container networks already battling disruption.

The numbers behind that disruption are substantial. Analysis from Sea-Intelligence found vessel delays caused by typhoons and port disruption had absorbed around 3m teu of global container capacity, equivalent to 8.5% of the total. The 2011-19 average was just 2.2% — meaning capacity tied up in delays has nearly quadrupled against the historical benchmark.

A spokesperson for Seko's China office explained the seasonal squeeze: "At the same time, ocean carriers typically introduce additional blanked sailings around the lunar new year period, while exporters concentrate shipments into the weeks immediately before the holiday."

The result, the spokesperson said, is that "the pre-holiday period [is] one of the busiest times of the year for China's exports. We therefore recommend placing bookings at least four weeks in advance and building sufficient time into factory completion, origin collection and port delivery plans."

How long will factories actually be closed?

Relatively few factories have formally announced their 2027 holiday schedules, according to the Seko China spokesperson. But existing plans point to shutdowns varying sharply by region.

Factories Seko works with in northern China are planning a shutdown running from 25 January to 15 February. Local practice in some regions often sees manufacturers begin the holiday up to a week ahead of the spring festival itself, and not fully resume operations until after the Lantern Festival on 20 February.

Southern China faces an even longer gap. Some operators there are set to shut down three weeks ahead of the festivities and will not return to full production for a fortnight after the holiday — a potential production blackout approaching two months for the longest closures.

What should shippers build into their plans?

Dan Eckett, Seko's client solutions group director for the UK and Ireland, said the pre-holiday rush hits every part of the ocean chain. "Ocean freight is heavily impacted in the weeks leading up to the new year, as exporters accelerate shipments ahead of factory closures," he said.

"This creates pressure on vessel space, equipment availability and carrier schedules, so we typically recommend building an additional one to two weeks into transit plans and ensuring supplier bookings are confirmed well before that three-week threshold, not after it."

For UK importers, the practical implication is a backwards-working calculation: production completion dates and port cutoffs must be derived from the intended sailing, with contingency built in for delays at origin. Shippers who miss that planning discipline face the fallback options of airfreight or sea-air services — viable, as Seko notes, but economically questionable.

With the holiday arriving on 6 February and carriers expected to blank sailings around it, the shippers that lock in factory slots and vessel space earliest will be the ones best insulated from the pre-holiday capacity crunch.