Hapag-Lloyd Cancels Three Asia–Europe Sailings for Golden Week

Hapag-Lloyd published its Golden Week network adjustments on 20 August, naming three voyages that will not sail and listing alternative departures on both the Asia to North Europe and Asia to Mediterranean trades. The notice gives service codes, voyage numbers, ports of loading and exact departure dates.

The alternatives are the part worth reading closely. Hapag-Lloyd lists four alternative service options, but these are different sailings rather than confirmation that space has already been secured for affected cargo. Several also change the departure timing: Qingdao cargo moves into the holiday itself, while the listed Ningbo alternative moves Mediterranean cargo from week 41 into week 42.

The three voyages with no sailing

Trade	Service	Voyage	Port of loading	Week	Scheduled departure
Asia to North Europe	NE2	641W	Shanghai, CN	41	October 10, 2026
Asia to Mediterranean	SE3	640W	Qingdao, CN	40	September 28, 2026
Asia to Mediterranean	SE1	641W	Ningbo, CN	41	October 8, 2026

Voyages listed with no sailing during the Golden Week period. Source: Hapag-Lloyd customer notice, 20 August 2026.

The published alternatives

Trade	Service	Vessel and voyage	Port of loading	Week	Departure
Asia to North Europe	NE3	Maersk Cambridge V.641W	Shanghai, CN	41	October 6, 2026
Asia to North Europe	NE1	Al Nefud V.640W	Shanghai, CN	41	October 10, 2026
Asia to Mediterranean	SE4	Berlin Maersk V.640W	Qingdao, CN	40	October 1, 2026
Asia to Mediterranean	SE3	Mayview Maersk V.641W	Ningbo, CN	42	October 12, 2026

Alternative voyages as listed by trade. The notice does not pair each alternative to a specific withdrawn voyage or confirm space for individual bookings. Source: Hapag-Lloyd customer notice, 20 August 2026.

Qingdao loses the sailing that sat in the pre-holiday window

SE3 640W was scheduled to depart Qingdao on September 28. That date matters more this year than it usually would. China’s Mid-Autumn Festival in 2026 runs 25 to 27 September as a separate three-day holiday, and National Day Golden Week runs 1 to 7 October. Between them sit exactly three working days: 28, 29 and 30 September. The withdrawn Qingdao sailing occupied the first of those three days.

The Mediterranean alternative loading at Qingdao, SE4 Berlin Maersk V.640W, departs October 1. That is three days later and it is day one of the holiday. Factory handover, trucking availability and export-documentation support can all become more constrained around that period even where terminal operations continue. Cargo prepared around a 28 September sailing therefore needs its cut-offs and documentation timing checked again before relying on the 1 October option.

Ningbo Mediterranean cargo moves into the next week

SE1 641W out of Ningbo was scheduled for October 8. The Mediterranean alternative loading at Ningbo, SE3 Mayview Maersk V.641W, departs October 12. That is four days later on the calendar, but the notice also moves the departure from week 41 to week 42. Downstream commitments keyed to the original week, inland collection bookings, customer delivery windows and onward connections should therefore be checked against the new sailing date.

North Europe is the softer of the two trades

NE2 641W out of Shanghai loses its October 10 departure, and here the notice lists a same-day alternative. NE1 Al Nefud V.640W also departs Shanghai on October 10. The second option, NE3 Maersk Cambridge V.641W, departs October 6, which is four days earlier. An earlier sailing is not necessarily the easier substitution because it can pull cargo-ready and gate-in deadlines forward into Golden Week itself.

One calendar detail helps on the same-day option. Saturday 10 October is a designated make-up working day in mainland China rather than an ordinary weekend. That should reduce some of the calendar friction, although individual trucking, terminal, customs and documentation arrangements still need to be confirmed locally.

If reconciling which of your booked containers sit on NE2 641W, SE3 640W or SE1 641W means opening one carrier portal at a time, walk through how ops teams confirm actual vessel and voyage assignment across 100+ carriers in one view.

Do not infer the sailing date from the voyage number

Read the two tables side by side and a pattern shows up that is easy to miss. Hapag-Lloyd lists NE1 Al Nefud V.640W under week 41 and SE4 Berlin Maersk V.640W under week 40, while the Ningbo alternative carries a 641W voyage number but is listed under week 42.

The practical point is simple: do not derive the expected departure date from the voyage number alone. Use the carrier’s stated sailing date when assessing a booking, and once cargo is moving, confirm the vessel and actual loading and departure events. That is particularly important after schedule changes, when the sailing a container actually takes may no longer match the assumptions attached to the original booking. The same gap that makes a rolled container hard to spot in a booking system is covered in more detail in our guide to rollovers, blank sailings and port omissions.

An added Rotterdam call, with one date to confirm

The notice also adds a call. NE1 Mumbai Maersk V.641W will call Rotterdam before Wilhelmshaven, which Hapag-Lloyd presents as a faster Shanghai to Rotterdam connection. There is one inconsistency in the published notice: Hapag-Lloyd places the change in week 41 while giving the vessel’s Shanghai departure as 15 October, which falls in ISO week 42. Because those references do not align, confirm the applicable sailing date with Hapag-Lloyd before planning a booking against it.

What to check around the Golden Week sailing changes

Pull every booking loading at Qingdao, Ningbo or Shanghai with a planned departure between 28 September and 15 October and check the assigned service code against the withdrawn voyages above.
For any box considering the Qingdao 1 October alternative, confirm cargo-ready, gate-in and export-documentation cut-offs against the holiday operating schedule.
For Ningbo Mediterranean cargo, update any downstream planning that was based on a week 41 departure.
For Shanghai North Europe cargo considering the 6 October option, check whether the cargo-ready or gate-in deadline now falls inside Golden Week.
After the holiday, verify actual loading and departure events per container rather than relying on the originally booked voyage as confirmation of what sailed.

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