Golden Week Cuts: Ningbo and Shanghai, Not Tianjin
Golden Week Cuts: Ningbo and Shanghai, Not Tianjin
Executive Summary
Ten sailings are gone for Golden Week. Ningbo took four, Shanghai three, and Tianjin Xingang kept every call. Here is what that means for your booking.
| 0.49% |
| 4.34% |
| 3.08% |
| 65 points |
Overview
Maersk cut three westbound Asia-Europe sailings first: AE15 640W/645E in Week 40, departing Qingdao on Sep 28; AE12 641W/648E in Week 41, Ningbo on Oct 8; and AE1 641W/648E in Week 41, Shanghai on Oct 10. On the transpacific side, TP8 640E leaves Busan on Oct 9 and TP12 641E leaves Ningbo on Oct 9, with two westbound legs blanked as well — 644W from Los Angeles on Nov 1 and 647W from Newark on Nov 18. Hapag-Lloyd dropped WC2 640E (Guthorm Maersk) from Shanghai on Oct 10, AA7 (Wan Hai A13) from Ningbo on Oct 1, US2 641E (Navios Unison) from Ningbo on Oct 7, and NE2 641W from Shanghai on Oct 10. MSC published only service names and sailing weeks — Orient GO640N in Week 40 and Pearl GO641N in Week 41 on the US trades, Jade GJ639W in Week 39, Swan FW640W and Britannia QB640W in Week 40, Lion GL641W in Week 41 on the Europe trades — with no port-level departure dates, so those are not in the count.
Every cut landed in the south.
Ningbo took four.
Shanghai took three.
Tianjin took none.
Key Details
Here's the thing. Hapag-Lloyd said it in the same advisory: the WC2 omission covers Shanghai only, and calls at Tianjin Xingang, Qingdao and Busan stay unchanged. That line matters more than it looks. At a WIFFA Tianjin roundtable on Sep 4, the sales manager of Jitong Supply Chain, Mr Zheng, put numbers on what is happening: Korean-line rates ran high in April and May, softened through the July-August holiday, then climbed again in September as factories restarted and Mid-Autumn stocking began — and with typhoon disruption at Shanghai and Ningbo, rates on some lanes rose two to three times, with a number of Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai shippers moving north. The Tianjin Containerised Freight Index closed Week 37 (Sep 7 to Sep 11) at 2,018.65 points, up 0.49% on the week, with Tianjin to US West Coast up 4.34% and Tianjin to US East Coast up 3.08%, according to Enorth on Sep 14. Put simply, carriers cut sailings in the south and the cargo walks north.
Your space is the pressure point.
That cargo lands in your boxes.
It is not a coincidence.
Watch out for that.
Looking Ahead
Bottom line: if you ship from Tianjin, do not reroute — book earlier instead. Mr Zheng's point about Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai shippers moving north is not small talk, and that cargo competes for the same boxes you are chasing, so pull your booking forward by 3 to 5 days. If you ship from Ningbo or Shanghai, confirm the substitution today. Hapag-Lloyd named US1 with Maersk Shams sailing from Haiphong on Oct 2 and adding a call at Norfolk, and offered NE3 (Maersk Cambridge, Shanghai, Oct 6) or NE1 (Al Nefud, Shanghai, Oct 10) in place of NE2. Maersk says only that it will add inducement calls on surviving sailings; it does not name the vessel or the call (and it rarely does on the day the advisory lands). So ask which ship your containers ended up on, and what that did to your ETA. Frankly, that answer never arrives by itself. One more thing: if you move empty equipment, look at the two November blanks now — 644W from Los Angeles on Nov 1 and 647W from Newark on Nov 18. They are six weeks out, and they are already shaping your box supply.
Do not wait for the advisory.
Cuts hit sailings, not ports.
Market Outlook
Space out of Tianjin tightens before it loosens, because the diverted cargo arrives faster than carriers add inducement calls. Book earlier rather than paying up later.JETWAY Supply Chain is your execution partner on the ground in China — based in Tianjin, licensed as an NVOCC (MOT) and a member of CIFA, FIATA and WCA. We handle special cargo and compliance (dangerous goods, chemicals, batteries) across ocean, air, rail and road, and we pre-check your documents before the box is stuffed so your filing clears the first time. Send us your next booking and we will run the checks above against your sailing date. Request a quote.