(Yicai) Feb. 6 -- Chinese air conditioner manufacturers have shortened their Chinese New Year holidays and asked their factory workers to work overtime to fulfill the early orders they received from Europe.

Most Chinese AC makers usually start their Chinese New Year holiday earlier than the official statutory holiday so that their employees can avoid the travel peak, according to research firm China IOL. However, due to the impact of the Red Sea crisis, most AC manufacturers must complete production earlier to ensure timely delivery and lock up costs in case of another freight fee increase. This led companies, especially those with many overseas orders, to shorten their holidays.

The Red Sea crisis forced cargo ships to Europe to detour by circumnavigating the African continent, increasing the sea transit time by more than 10 days. As a result, European orders are arriving before Chinese New Year this year instead of after, Xiao noted.

“Zhuhai Samyou Environmental Technology had 10 days of holiday for Chinese New Year before, but now we have cut it to one week,” Chairman Xiao Youyuan told Yicai. Moreover, the company had to implement overtime production because its AC export orders surged over 30 percent so far this year from the same periods in previous years, Xiao added.

The sales department of Anhui Meibo Intelligent Electric Appliance Group is already on holiday, but the production department is still working and is expected to return earlier due to the high volume of export orders, said Gan Jianguo, the spokesperson of the Anhui-based AC maker. “There is an urgent need to grab overseas opportunities,” Gan pointed out.

This year’s Chinese New Year holiday for Skyworth Air Conditioning Technology’s production department will be three days shorter than last year’s because the increase in new customers led to a rise in export orders, officials at the Chinese AC maker said.

Overseas orders at Midea Group’s AC factory in Shunde, southern Guangdong province, have significantly increased this year, according to officials at the Chinese white goods giant. However, workers’ Chinese New Year holiday will not be shortened because the company enhanced its output efficiency last year.

Gree Electric Appliances, another Chinese home appliance giant, said most of its employees are already on holiday, but some production bases are still operational.

China’s AC exports jumped 8.3 percent to nearly 66.3 million units last year from the year before, while the export value rose 1.4 percent to USD13.2 billion, according to data from the household appliances branch of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione