On 29 September 2026, Sourcing Journal's Glenn Taylor reported Dimerco's October Asia Pacific Freight Report on China gateway congestion into Golden Week. Shanghai was expected to remain severely congested into mid-to-late October, with berthing waits of more than five days and waiting times exceeding nine days at Waigaoqiao. On-time performance fell to 21% at Shanghai and 34.6% at Ningbo, China's second-busiest gateway.
Pressure is also showing in equipment and calls. Dimerco said ocean carriers cut allocations and skipped Qingdao calls to clear typhoon backlogs at southern ports. On 26 August, Shenzhen's Yantian Terminals applied a 120% container receiving cap: once a voyage's intake hits 120% of baseline loading capacity, receiving suspends and no new export loaded boxes are accepted, which Dimerco said filled appointment slots within seconds in peak periods and tightened empty releases.
Around Golden Week (1-7 October), carriers blanked just under 13% of planned Asia-to-US and Asia-to-Europe capacity, with cancellations often on shorter notice than last year. Ted Chen, Dimerco EVP of global sales, said the real risk is space disappearing before booking, not only port waits. Dimerco recommends booking intra-Asia ocean 1-2 weeks ahead of schedule and long-haul 2-3 weeks ahead while held-back China-US cargo and Q4 peak demand overlap.