"Ramadan 2024 has opened, starting on Tuesday 12 March 2024 and lasting for about 29 days, with the last fasting day being Tuesday 9 April.
When Ramadan opens in different countries depends specifically on when the crescent moon appears or is supposed to appear, with each country seeing the crescent at a different time and entering Ramadan at a different time.
According to statistics, a total of 48 countries will welcome the arrival of Ramadan, concentrated in western Asia and northern Africa. Among them, Lebanon, Chad, Nigeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Malaysia have about half of their population practising Islam.
Arab States (22)
Asia: Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain.
Africa: Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Somalia, Djibouti.
Non-Arab States (26)
West Africa: Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria.
Central Africa: Chad.
Southern African islands: Comoros.
Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania.
West Asia: Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran and Afghanistan.
Five Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
South Asia: Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives.
Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
During the month of Ramadan, foreign traders should arrange for the transport of goods in advance. Goods should preferably arrive at the destination port before and after the end of Ramadan, so that they can catch up with the consumption period of Eid al-Fitr, which is generally the day of the end of Ramadan, and the peak of the Muslims to start the wave of consumption.
For freight forwarders, the goods issued during Ramadan should remember to book the cabin in advance, confirm the bill of lading details with the customer in advance, and confirm the customs clearance documents details and requirements with the customer in advance.
In addition, remember to apply to the shipping company for a 14-21 day exemption period when shipping, and apply for an exemption period if some routes allow it.
Goods that are not in a hurry to be sent out can wait until the end of Ramadan, because during Ramadan, government agencies and customs, ports, freight forwarders and other businesses related to the shortening of the working hours of the staff, for certain documents and decisions may be delayed until after Ramadan, the overall timeliness of the control is not good, so try to avoid this time period, if possible.
In addition, working hours during Ramadan are reduced to half a day, and with no food or water available during the day, dock workers' stamina is reduced, slowing down the processing of cargo. As a result, the capacity of destination and transit ports to handle cargo is significantly reduced.
Therefore, the operating hours of the terminals are much longer during this period, and the number of cases in which cargoes cannot be put on the second journey will increase one after another. In order to minimise losses, it is recommended to keep track of cargo dynamics at all times to avoid unnecessary losses due to cargo dumping or delay in transit ports.
It is worth noting that the local banks will only be closed during Eid, other times are not affected by the holiday normal business, foreign traders need to be vigilant customers as an excuse to delay payment.
Here, to remind the owners and forwarders, Ramadan, please deal with shipping-related matters early to avoid unnecessary trouble due to the holiday attributes."
