PST CLC Mitsui-Soko is seeing great customer interest in securing sea shipments before the start of the new Chinese year. Demand has increased by ten to twenty percent. At the same time, the company has seen an increased interest in rail transport from China, the transit time of which is shorter than that of sea transport.
“We have prepared very well for the approaching Chinese New Year. Both we, i.e. our dispatchers, and our agents and partners in China, who informed us in advance about the individual dates, counted on it in time. So we knew when and where what needed to be delivered at the latest so that the shipment from the port would be loaded before the start of the new Chinese year. Thanks to careful preparation, we do not register any complications,” says Jan Bláha, Transport Director at PST CLC Mitsui-Soko. Production plants, ports, freight forwarders, customs warehouses and administrative centers will almost come to a standstill for 10 to 14 days during the Chinese New Year, which is celebrated this year at the turn of February and March.
Jan Bláha adds that the clients of PST CLC Mitsui-Soko most often need to arrange the transport of machine parts and components for the automotive industry. “It is crucial for clients to be able to handle shipments before the start of the new Chinese year. If the goods are loaded in a container and the container is ready at the port, it will have time to sail away even when the holidays begin. Some ships plan to depart just after the start of the new Chinese year. So the basis is to be able to load them into containers,” specifies Jan Bláha.
“The Chinese New Year has a much greater impact on global supply chains than many companies in Europe still admit,” says Petr Rožek, Executive Director of the Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics of the Czech Republic. He further notes: “Those who count on the Chinese New Year on time have a competitive advantage. Anyone who underestimates it risks chaos in the warehouse and in finances.”
