The Chinese national holiday known as Golden Week - which begins today (Wednesday, October 1) - results in a shutdown in the country for an entire week every October. This has huge knock-on effects on global transport as containers are piled high on vessels racing to avoid the shutdowns. So as businesses, government agencies and ports across China shut down, back on the Suffolk/Essex coast, the ports here get very busy. “So for the world’s biggest shipping companies, they know that if there’s ever challenging weather, or they want to load ships with more containers like during Golden Week, HHA have the capability to welcome them. Chinese Golden week runs from October 1 to 8.