*UPDATE

China closed for business to at least 10 February

The central government in China had advised that all businesses in mainland China except the Tianjin area, (the port city for Beijing) are to remain closed until 10 February.

As you may have heard the Chinese government have issued a instruction on the extension to Chinese New Year to avoid the movement of people to prevent the coronavirus spreading. This is compulsory and so we would expect strict compliance from factories, especially as factory workers are likely to have gone home for New Year and will now be stranded there, hundreds or even thousand of miles from their workplace.

As of today 29 January our offices report opening dates as follows by region:

Region/Office Location Expected Office Work Resumption date
Shanghai 10th Feb 2020
Ningbo 10th Feb 2020
Suzhou 10th Feb 2020
Nanjing 10th Feb 2020
Wuhan Suspended until further notice
Chongqing 3rd Feb 2020
Qingdao 3rd Feb 2020
Lianyungang 3rd Feb 2020
Zhengzhou 3rd Feb 2020
Tianjin 3rd Feb 2020
Dalian 3rd Feb 2020
Xiamen / Fuzhou 10th Feb 2020
Shenzhen 10th Feb 2020
Guangzhou 10th Feb 2020
Zhongshan 10th Feb 2020
Hong Kong 29th Jan 2020

Clearly this is a fast moving situation and so these dates may change. Note that the border China – Hong Kong is already closed to commercial traffic.

Airfreight: there is likely to be major disruption, though it looks like there will be little airfreight to send if factories are closed. British Airways have stopped operating flights to China and others will shortly follow. Most airfreight goes on passenger flights.

Our offices in China have well established plans for emergencies and so all necessary staff have on line access will be working from home in order that all bookings made already can be handled without disruption.

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