Our Blogs
Navigating the New Year – Key Updates and Challenges for China Imports
So, the new year has started as quickly as last year finished and that is because of the Chinese New Year that is coming up. Officially the holiday starts on Tuesday 28th and finishes on Tuesday 4th February, but for a lot of China will start closing down as of 23rd and opening on 5th February so make sure you plan for longer than expected.
Chinese New Year always throws up some surprises for our customers – for many, this may come in the shape of a supplier delaying the goods ready-date right up until just before the Chinese New Year or even after. This means for us, we spend a lot of our time firefighting on our customers behalf to try and get the goods out or finding the best solution for them to work around the challenges. It means that this time of the year is busy, and can be tough if you aren’t prepared properly.
Many will know already, but our road freight service has temporarily been suspended because of a delay at the border of Belarus and Poland. The delay was caused because of new rules that come into effect as of 1st December regarding customs and T1’s. This delay started in December so it should be coming to an end this month, but we are able to offer a fast rail option for our customers currently so we are putting the road service on hold whilst we wait for confirmation that all is back to normal
Trump taxes. We are waiting to see what the future holds for the US and it’s relationship with China but what we are sure of, it’s going to be very interesting. We are seeing an influx of China to US shipments currently so customers can get their goods into the US before the potential taxes are implemented. We will be keeping an eye on this topic and also how it could potentially affect the UK, and we will keep our customers informed.
China Imports UK deliveries? We are currently considering buying our own vehicles and doing our own UK domestic deliveries to our customers. Currently, we often use a varied method of delivery varying from parcel carriers (such as DPD, DHL etc), van or truck deliveries and we would still utilise these platforms but we would also have access to our own fleet to improve cost, service and availability for our customer base.
Regards,
Toby Bridges
Managing Director
