From Chinese New Year through to Christmas, understanding and effectively managing the peak periods in logistics is essential for maintaining the flow of goods and keeping your customers satisfied. In this article, we take a look at five periods throughout the year to be aware of and how they could impact your cargo.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is a yearly festival that is celebrated in varying forms across Asia – causing the largest annual mass human migration in the world! Beginning on 10 February 2024, it will see almost all factories in the region close for over a week, with full productivity not resuming for almost a month.

This is easily the biggest holiday in the logistics calendar and prior to New Year, we see the number of containers raise 50 per cent as people prepare their cargo. It also results in a busy start to the year as logistics companies, carriers and shippers deal with this demand and the subsequent backlogs once normal working resumes. Read more about it in our dedicated Chinese New Year 2024 article.

Carnival

Carnival is a festive season that occurs before Lent, involving public celebrations, parades and street parties. While it occurs in many countries around the world, the biggest and most famous Carnival celebration is in Brazil – where, like Chinese New Year, much of the country comes to a standstill for a week of festivities. In 2024, Carnival in Rio de Janeiro takes place from 9-17 February.

This means two of the world’s largest economies (Brazil and China) are holding big holidays at the same time! So it’s important to be aware of when these crossover dates in order to plan appropriately.

Summer holiday season

For those of us in the northern hemisphere our summer months are July and August, while in the southern hemisphere summer holidays are taken in December and January. Depending on where you’re shipping your cargo from or to, you could be affected by the summer season as workers head off on their holidays.

The summer holiday season also sees heightened demand for certain commodities and produce – from food to garden furniture – so if you’re shipping anything seasonal it’s always a good idea to start planning for it well enough in advance that you’ll get your cargo when you need it most.

Black Friday / Cyber Monday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are huge dates on the consumer calendar, where brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers offer big discounts to shoppers. In 2024, Black Friday falls on 29 November and Cyber Monday on 2 December — following the Thanksgiving holiday in the US.

What started in the US has now spread across the globe from the UK to Mexico as other countries look to get a slice of the vast amounts of money that will be spent over the course of these two days. American online shoppers alone spent $9.12 billion during Black Friday 2022!

In order to accommodate this huge demand, you’ll see many companies getting their cargo prepared as early as September.

Christmas / New Year

Before you know it, you will have made it through another year and the busy time of Christmas (25 December) and New Year (1 January) will be here. Add to this all the people starting to take holidays as well as more severe weather and it can get pretty stressful and disruptive – so it’s important to plan for this period well in advance.