Shipping to Russia over the 2026 New Year break: clearance windows and the documents your buyer will ask for early

Our office hours over the 2026 New Year break

Holidays or not, iCustoms stays available: we keep logistics running and clear your cargo from China into the CIS the «white» way, on a full document package. The office works to the following calendar:

• 31 December — duty roster;
• 1, 2, 3, 4 January — days off;
• 5, 6, 7 January — duty roster;
• 8, 9, 10, 11 January — days off;
• from 12 January — back to normal hours.

A duty roster is an on-call team rather than the full office. Cargo already at the border, urgent cases and files that are complete get handled; a queue of routine questions does not clear in a day.

What the break means for a shipment already on the way

Nothing about your shipment changes physically — the vessel, the train or the truck keeps to its own timetable. What changes is the speed of everything that happens after arrival. A declaration is filed by the consignee's side, and on days off there is nobody in your buyer's office, at their bank or in their warehouse to sign, pay or accept the goods. If the file is not finished before the break, the cargo waits.

The commercial cost of that wait sits with whoever pays terminal storage and demurrage under your contract, and those clocks do not stop for holidays. That is the practical reason to treat 31 December as your deadline, not 12 January: customs clearance can start on a duty day only if every paper is already in hand. Where the whole chain — pick-up, transport and clearance — is handled as one turnkey service, the duty days are usable; where it is split between several parties who are all away, they are not.

New Year 2026 schedule: the duty days and days off that decide when a shipment to Russia and the CIS can be cleared.

What your buyer in Russia will need from you, and when

Expect your counterparty to come back to you earlier than usual and to ask for scans before the originals move. The realistic set is the one you already produce for every shipment, only sooner:

• invoice and packing list that agree with each other and with the contract — the same quantities, weights, packages and currency;
• contract and specification for the exact consignment, so the payment side is not queried mid-clearance;
• transport documents, with the bill of lading released early enough that nobody is waiting on a courier over the holidays;
• proof of origin, if a preferential rate is claimed;
• technical description of the goods — composition, purpose, model — which is what the HS code and the certification route are built on;
• photos of the packaging and labels, which regularly turn out to be the missing item.

Send everything in one batch. A file assembled from five emails over three days is exactly the kind of file that misses a duty window.

Arrival date and what to expect

The break is not one long holiday: 5, 6 and 7 January are duty days and they are the only window in the first half of January when paperwork actually moves. That window works only for shipments whose documents were complete before 31 December — on those days there is nobody to chase a missing certificate or a corrected invoice.

What the exporter should do

1. Look at your December and January shipments and mark the ones whose arrival falls between 31 December and 11 January.
2. Agree one document deadline with your buyer — realistically, everything in their hands before 31 December.
3. Check the invoice, packing list and contract against each other before you send them; a mismatch found on 5 January costs a whole window.
4. Release the bill of lading and courier the originals early, allowing for slower postal and banking days.
5. Fix in writing who pays terminal storage and demurrage if the cargo stands over the holidays.
6. Give your buyer a contact of yours who is genuinely reachable on 31 December and on 5–7 January — one answered question can save a week.
7. For anything that cannot wait, plan around 12 January, when the office is back to normal hours.

Frequently asked questions

Can my cargo be cleared between 1 and 4 January?
Those are days off. A shipment arriving then waits until 5 January at the earliest, and only moves that day if its documents are already complete.

What is the last sensible date to send documents?
Before 31 December. That way the duty days on 31 December and 5–7 January are spent on the declaration itself rather than on collecting papers.

Who answers on the duty days?
Your usual contact or the on-call team. Replies are slower than normal and priority goes to cargo standing at the border; from 12 January the office is back to full hours.

Does this schedule apply to shipments to other CIS countries?
Yes, it is our office calendar, so it covers every direction we handle — but local calendars at the destination may differ, so confirm the receiving side's own days off with your buyer.

Summary

The 2026 New Year break splits into two blocks of days off, 1–4 and 8–11 January, with duty days on 31 December and 5–7 January and normal hours from the 12th. For an exporter that means one deadline worth keeping: a complete, self-consistent document set in your buyer's hands before 31 December. Everything sent after that competes for a few duty days or waits for mid-January, with terminal storage running in the meantime. Send us a request and we will go through your specific shipment and its dates.

Send us your shipping documents before 31 December and we will keep your buyer's clearance moving on the duty days.

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