SEKO Logistics’ China Golden Week 2026 supply-chain guide states that National Day Golden Week runs from 1 to 7 October 2026, with adjusted working days on 20 September and 10 October. Mid-Autumn Festival is separate, from 25 to 27 September, creating two closely spaced holiday periods. SEKO cites english.www.gov.cn / GovHK for the calendar and notes that only 28–30 September remain as a short final working window before the National Day shutdown.
On ocean capacity, SEKO says major alliances are blanking extensively on Far East Asia–Europe and Mediterranean (FEWB) trades between Weeks 39 and 43. It puts confirmed blank sailings from Ocean Alliance (~78,000 TEU), MSC (~62,000 TEU) and Gemini (~53,000 TEU) at about 193,000 TEU removed, and with Premier Alliance FP2 service omission at Shanghai (~90,000 TEU operational impact) total capacity affected at roughly 283,000 TEU. Week 41 is projected as the most capacity-constrained period. Export loading pressure is concentrated at Shanghai and Ningbo, plus Qingdao, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Yantian and Busan.
SEKO’s operational advice for traders: complete production, inspections and documentation before the late-September compression; book ocean space weeks ahead; avoid relying on last-minute pickups during 28–30 September; and expect recovery backlogs into about 8–16 October as factories, trucking and warehouses restart. Maersk’s own Far East–Europe advisory (20 Aug 2026) separately lists Golden Week blanks on AE15 (Qingdao ETD 28 Sep), AE12 (Ningbo ETD 8 Oct) and AE1 (Shanghai ETD 10 Oct), illustrating how individual strings diverge from the calendar.