How project44 takes the chaos out of the Chinese New Year peak for shippers and carriers

March 21, 2025

by Kazumi Mihashi

Exponential spikes in cost. Record-breaking port congestion. These are just two of the factors that make the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday a critical period that significantly impacts global supply chains.

As factories rush to complete production before the holiday shutdown, exporters face congestion, rising costs, and logistical bottlenecks.

Some shippers fared better than others—specifically, companies that had prepared by investing the right resources beforehand. project44 equips shippers, 3PLs, and logistics providers with real-time visibility and actionable insights to plan ahead, navigate disruptions, and maintain operational efficiency during holiday peaks.

If you can anticipate the specific issues you’ll face, use the right strategies to get ahead of the curve, and partner with a tech provider that can equip you with real-time visibility and actionable insights, you can maintain operational efficiency even during CNY.

You’ll also be better prepared for any annual other peak period—including 618 Shopping Festival, Golden Week, and Double 11—as well as during unanticipated weather or geo-political events.

Lessons from the 2025 Chinese New Year Supply Chain Disruption

During this past Chinese New Year period from January 28–February 4, 2025, our customers faced a litany of challenges: widespread factory closures, port congestion, and cost spikes, to name a few. This disruption in the global supply chain particularly affected exports from China.

The key challenges we identified include:

Stockpiling led to intense pre-CNY congestion

Because production halted for up to three weeks due to CNY, shippers needed a way to keep goods moving despite the planned disruption at the production stage. Both exporters and importers stockpiled goods in anticipation of the holiday peak, causing high congestion both pre-holiday and during the 16-day holiday.

This led to driver delays, drayage challenges with container pickup-drop-off slots tightened, and a surge in storage demand.

As a result, port congestion reached critical levels even prior to Chinese New Year—Ningbo and Shenzhen, for example, hit 95% capacity.

Surge in Over-the-Road (OTR) Demands

Road transportation via truck increased by up to 7X before and during CNY, increasing both costs and the likelihood of delay. Driver shortages and port gate congestion caused up to 48-hour delays, leading to missed sailing schedules, increased rolling risks, and extended dwell times in the downstream supply chain. Rates for primary OTR routes, like Shenzhen-Yantian, reached ¥5,500 per container.

Higher Costs at Nearly Every Stage

The surge in demand and congestion at the port inevitably meant higher costs for shippers:

The increased storage demand spiked fees to ¥2,000 per container (up from a pre-CNY average of ¥300).

The Shenzhen-Yantian OTR route reached ¥5,500 per container.

Downstream, delays in the supply chain can cause everything from missed contract obligations to lost revenue.

Global Insights from China’s Supply Chain Challenges

The disruptions experienced during CCNY are not isolated to China alone—global supply chains, especially those dependent on China as a manufacturing hub, are deeply impacted by what we’ve described above.

By addressing local bottlenecks like port congestion and OTR delays, project44 ensures that global stakeholders—whether in North America, Europe, or APAC—receive real-time updates and actionable insights that improve supply chain resilience across regions.

In this interconnected landscape, the ability to monitor, manage, and mitigate disruptions in China is vital for global supply chain optimization.

Four Strategies for Minimizing Disruption in the Future

To mitigate the disruption of port congestion during holiday peaks, and its downstream impact, project44 recommends (and supports customers in) four smart strategies:

1. Optimize your inventory in advance

Streamline inventory management with real-time shipment visibility, down to the purchase order and SKU level. Monitor shipments across multiple modes with high-precision ETA data to maintain the right inventory levels and minimize excessive safety stock, and avoid post-holiday shortages.

2. Proactive decision-making

Leverage project44’s historic insights about your shipments, carrier capacities, lanes to do demand analysis and understand potential bottlenecks ahead of time. This will not only benefit you for future Chinese New Year period and peak seasons, but it will also safeguard you against black swan events that can lead to cargo rushing out of the country.

3. Secure freight in advance

With carrier performance data, you can identify a reliable partner for your shipments and prioritize high-demand routes. By locking in capacity well in advance, you can feel confident that when the demand surge comes, your company is prepared for it.

4. Diversify suppliers

Leverage trade lane analytics to assess supply chain risks and identify alternative sourcing options within and outside Greater China. By expanding your pool of reliable suppliers, you can stay agile enough to mitigate disruptions caused by congestion, delays, or geopolitical uncertainties.

How project44’s Real-Time Supply Chain Visibility Platform Minimizes Disruption and Optimizes Operations

In an unpredictable and dynamic seasons or regions, project44’s industry-leading supply chain visibility platform provides actionable insights to help businesses adapt and thrive.

Here’s how project44 can make a difference in your supply chain:

Real-time China OTR visibility

Wide Coverage of China OTR Network

project44 has wide coverage of China OTR network that monitors 73% of China’s road freight, with over 8 million connected trucks in the network. When peak periods cause congestion hotspots, you can quickly find a better route for shipments.

Intelligent Planning

AI-driven insights help you analyze the performances of carriers and lanes in your network, so you can identify more cost-effective alternatives. Unlike generic AI models, Movement AI is built specifically for supply chains and trained on the largest dataset in the industry. It doesn’t just analyze, it acts—solving problems before they impact your business.

Efficient Exception Management

When unexpected events like road closures or inclement weather arise, project44’s technology lets you collaborate with your team in real-time, directly within the platform.

You have access to the latest information at your fingertips. It’s digestible and shareable, meaning you and your teams can respond to delays quickly and efficiently.

Compliance

project44 is the only real-time transportation visibility provider authorized to operate in and transfer logistics data out of China in compliance with China’s Data Security Law (DSL.) We are compliant with data privacy regulations and policies where we operate including GDPR, which is crucial to avoid fines, legal risks, and damage to your company’s reputation.

Localized Infrastructure

project44’s OTR map is powered by Baidu for reliable cross-border visibility data and actionable insights. Other comparable platforms rely on map providers that are not appropriately localized for the Chinese market.

Drayage optimization

Timely Dispatch

project44 lets you configure alerts based on accurate ETD (Estimated Time of Discharge) and container status at ports. The system notifies drivers and logistics teams of ideal pickup times, which is particularly helpful in congested ports like Yantian.

Control Logistics Costs

Reduce logistics fees significantly by compounding optimization along the supply chain: for example, if you are able to ensure your drivers dispatch on schedule and plan the optimal route, you not only ensure lower costs at that stage, but also downstream by reducing delays.

Why choose project44?

project44‘s E2E multimodal supply chain visibility platform enables shippers, LSPs and carriers across the globe to reduce costs, optimize operations, and deliver an exceptional customer experience.

Here are a few reasons our customers love to work with us:

Proven Compliance: We are the only provider authorized to transfer logistics data to and from China. project44 is also compliant with data security regulations across the EU and US, achieving the highest industry standards for cross-border data governance.

Scalable Solutions: Our platform supports any modes (OTR, Ocean, Rail, Air, Barge) and any region globally, quickly scaling your visibility coverages, with localized expertise across regions—including China.

Actionable Insights: With project44, shippers and carriers can combine ETAs, predictive analytics, regulatory compliance, and ESG alignment to future-proof supply chains.

Our solution helps businesses gain the agility to navigate CNY disruptions, reduce costs, and strengthen stakeholder confidence.

Want to see a personalized demo of project44 in action? Book yours today.