By Maria Kalamatas — September 4, 2025

HONG KONG — September 4, 2025. The emails started landing late Tuesday night. By dawn on Wednesday, forwarders from Shenzhen to Hamburg were already forwarding the same subject lines to their teams: “blank sailing,” “rotation removed,” “schedule change.”

Golden Week doesn’t begin until next week, but carriers are pulling services earlier than anyone expected. For freight forwarders, that means containers waiting on the quay with no confirmed vessel and clients demanding answers.

“Two departures gone in 24 hours”

On the yard at Yantian terminal, dozens of boxes are stacked, still waiting. A local forwarder, visibly frustrated, shared: “We booked space three weeks ahead. Yesterday two departures just disappeared from the screen. Now we’re juggling cargo, calling carriers, trying to save face with customers.”

The sense of déjà vu is strong. Golden Week has always meant schedule cuts. What’s different this year is how fast and aggressive the blank sailings are being announced.

Rates climbing before the holiday

Analysts in Singapore say carriers are simply playing the oldest game in the book: shrink supply, lift the price. Forwarders confirm spot rates on Asia–Europe lanes are already jumping. “No-roll” contracts are being sold at record premiums.

“It’s pure capacity control,” one shipper in Rotterdam noted. “They pull a string here, the whole market tightens. We just have to live with it.”

Forwarders under pressure

• Bookings secured weeks in advance are being pushed back or rolled entirely.

• Clients are asking for air freight alternatives, even though the cost gap is massive.

• European hubs brace for delays and bunching once vessels do arrive.

A German forwarder added: “Our phones don’t stop ringing. Everyone wants reassurance we can move their cargo. Right now, that’s almost impossible to promise.”

What comes next

If the cancellations stretch beyond the official Golden Week break, volatility could drag into mid-October. If capacity is restored quickly, today’s sharp price spikes might collapse just as fast.

Either way, forwarders know the next ten days will be messy. The only certainty: more late-night emails marked ‘service update’ are on the way.

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