A new year is a good time to get the calendar right. The dates below are the ones that most often drive real world changes in capacity, transit time, staffing, cutoffs, and customer demand. If you plan ocean, parcel, trucking, warehousing, or purchasing, put these on the team calendar now and use them as triggers for earlier booking, earlier production, and clearer customer communication.
Quarter 1, January to March 2026
• Jan 1, New Year’s Day
More facilities close or run limited shifts, dispatch and receiving schedules compress, and recovery volume can hit the first full week back.
• Jan 7, Orthodox Christmas, often called Russian Christmas
Many Eastern Orthodox communities celebrate Christmas on or near January 7, which can increase planned time off in fleets with Orthodox drivers and in certain regions.
• Jan 19, Martin Luther King Jr. Day
A federal holiday that can reduce staffing at shippers, receivers, and offices, which can ripple into missed appointments and slower turn times.
• Feb 16, Presidents Day
Another federal holiday where reduced receiving hours and tighter appointment calendars can impact on time performance.
• Feb 15 to Feb 23, China Spring Festival holiday window, with Chinese New Year on Feb 17
If you import from China, this is one of the biggest annual production and export slowdowns, followed by a restart surge that can tighten ocean space and downstream drayage and warehouse capacity.
• Ramadan, expected to start mid February, exact date varies by moon sighting and location
In some markets, working hours shift and some teams plan different schedules, which can affect international support, supplier responsiveness, and certain driver populations.
• Eid al Fitr, expected Mar 20, exact date varies
A planned time off period for many Muslim team members, useful to anticipate coverage gaps and slower approvals in certain networks.
Quarter 2, April to June 2026
• Apr 1 to Apr 9, Passover, begins at sundown
Can affect staffing and school schedules in some regions, plus it is a common period for planned home time in some communities.
• Apr 3, Good Friday
Not a US federal holiday, but widely observed across many businesses and some states, which can reduce receiving hours and increase weekend carryover.
• Apr 5, Easter Sunday
A major family weekend for many drivers, often tightening available capacity on the days leading into it and the first business day after.
• Apr 4 to Apr 6, China Qingming Festival holiday window
Short, but it can still delay documentation turnaround and upstream production timing.
• Apr 29 through early May, Japan Golden Week
A busy travel and time off period in Japan that can slow approvals, reduce staffing, and stretch lead times for Japan linked supply chains.
• May 1 to May 5, China Labor Day holiday window
A common point for production pauses and pre holiday push volume, useful for booking freight earlier and avoiding missed cutoffs.
• May 25, MEMORIAL DAY
A long weekend that often increases planned driver home time and reduces shipper and receiver hours, especially for live loads and live unloads.
• Eid al Adha, expected May 27, exact date varies
A major observance that can affect staffing and planned time off across parts of the driver and operations workforce.
• Jun 19, Juneteenth
A federal holiday that can reduce staffing and appointment availability.
• Jun 19 to Jun 21, China Dragon Boat Festival holiday window
Can shift sailing cutoffs and documentation timing, especially if you are moving freight around month end.
Quarter 3, July to September 2026
• Jul 3, Independence Day observed by many US operations
Because July 4 falls on a Saturday, many businesses treat Friday as the observed day, which can reduce pickup and delivery opportunities and tighten capacity.
• Aug 8 to Aug 16, peak Obon travel season in Japan
A known slow period for staffing and domestic transport in Japan, also a standard vacation window that can delay decisions and handoffs.
• Sep 7, Labor Day
Another long weekend where driver home time demand rises and appointment calendars compress.
• Rosh Hashanah, begins at sundown Sep 11, with Sep 12 as the first day
In some US regions there are school closures and staffing impacts, worth flagging if you run dense Northeast corridors.
• Yom Kippur, Sep 21, begins at sundown Sep 20
A highly observed day that can affect staffing and planned time off in certain areas.
• Sep 25 to Sep 27, China Mid Autumn Festival holiday window
Often overlaps with late quarter shipping pushes, plan for slower documentation turnaround and adjusted workdays.
Quarter 4, October to December 2026
• Oct 1 to Oct 7, China National Day Golden Week
A major global disruption window, often a pre holiday surge, then a pause, then congestion on restart.
• Nov 1, daylight saving time ends in the US
A common source of appointment confusion and timestamp issues, worth double checking dispatch, dock scheduling tools, and EDI time handling.
• Nov 8, Diwali
A major holiday for many South Asian communities that can affect staffing and planned time off in some markets.
• Nov 11, Veterans Day
Federal holiday, can reduce staffing and receiving capacity.
• Nov 26, Thanksgiving Day, plus the surrounding week
One of the biggest US shutdown periods, with driver home time demand rising and fewer delivery appointments available.
• Dec 25, Christmas Day
Widespread closures and limited coverage in many networks, plan earlier final ship dates and clear customer cutoffs.
Make 2026 Easier With Taylor
If you want fewer last-minute scrambles in 2026, Taylor can help you turn these dates into an operating plan, including smarter cutoff communication, capacity planning around long weekends, and inventory positioning ahead of known disruption windows. If you need food-grade warehousing, D2C fulfillment, value-added services, or transportation support that scales with demand, Taylor is built to keep freight moving.
Email info@taylorlog.com, and we will review your lanes and build a practical 2026 coverage calendar around the dates that most often move capacity.
