Will Your Furniture Delivery Be Delayed During the Christmas Season?
As the year-end approaches, many of our clients planning international moves have raised a common concern: Will the concentration of public holidays — Christmas and New Year — affect the delivery timeline of my household goods?
Factor 1: Whether the destination country observes Christmas as a public holiday
Customs clearance timelines are directly tied to the public holiday schedule of the destination country.
In major immigration destinations such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, Christmas is a statutory public holiday. During this period, local ports, customs offices, trucking companies, and warehousing facilities generally shut down or operate with minimal staffing. As a result, customs declaration and clearance processes come to a standstill.
If your shipment is destined for countries or regions that do not recognize Christmas as a public holiday — such as China — ports and customs authorities operate on regular business days, and clearance procedures proceed without interruption.
Factor 2: Where your shipment is in the logistics chain during the holiday period
Even if the destination country celebrates Christmas, not all shipments will experience delays. The critical question is: where is your container when the holiday hits?
If your container is still at sea, or has arrived at the destination port but has not yet been scheduled for customs clearance, the Christmas holiday is unlikely to cause significant disruption. Ocean transit continues as usual, and clearance operations resume once the holiday period ends. If your container is awaiting transshipment at an intermediate port, or is already in the clearance queue at the destination port, you may encounter delays. Reduced port activity and backlogs in customs document reviews can extend the timeline by several days to a week.
In short, the decisive factor is not whether the holiday exists, but where your cargo is when the holiday occurs.
Plan ahead to keep your move on track
With over 35 years of experience in the international moving industry, Asian Tigers has built a mature global logistics network. If you have any questions about your upcoming move timeline, please feel free to reach out to your dedicated move coordinator, or leave us a message via our official WeChat account.
