Project Start Date Set: Can a Scissor Lift Imported from China Arrive in Time?

A contractor has a firm date when an aerial work platform must be usable on site. A Chinese supplier has an attractive quote and says production is quick. If the machine misses the date, the contractor may have to rent locally or rearrange site work.

Calculate backwards from the day the machine must actually be usable—not the day it leaves the Chinese factory or reaches the port. Every relevant task needs an owner, a duration and a clear completion condition.

1. Set the real deadline

Suppose the lift must enter service at the job site 75 calendar days from now (D75). By that date it must have arrived and completed the local receiving and other necessary preparations applicable to this use.

The chain may include final configuration and order approval, manufacture or stock preparation, the agreed inspection and corrective work, packing and handover, international transport, destination clearance and delivery, and local readiness. The exact steps depend on the machine, Incoterms® rule, transport mode and destination requirements.

Contractual delivery under Incoterms® and readiness for the contractor's job are not automatically the same milestone.

2. Calculate an illustrative critical path

The durations below are assumptions, not actual factory or shipping times. All are treated as calendar days here.

Without contingency, D75 − D71 = 4 days of headroom. With a 10-day allowance, planned readiness moves to D81, leaving a six-day shortfall against the project deadline.

The base schedule therefore looks just possible, but it does not meet the illustrated contingency objective. A promise of “18 days' production plus 26 days at sea” is not enough to reach a sound project decision.

3. Consider dependencies and parallel tasks

Some work can overlap. While the lift is being built, the buyer may confirm shipping options, import-document requirements and on-site receiving arrangements. Do not add such tasks twice if they truly run in parallel.

But do not assume everything can overlap. Final inspection needs a machine in the agreed condition. A booked voyage does not mean a machine with unresolved issues can be treated as accepted. Update the actual critical path when a stage changes, rather than arbitrarily shifting the arrival date earlier.

4. Do not overlook Chinese holidays—especially orders that cross Chinese New Year

Not every public holiday significantly affects a factory, but Chinese New Year and the National Day period can disrupt staffing, component supply, inspection and transport. An order placed before Chinese New Year and shipped afterwards deserves its own factory calendar. The effective shutdown may begin before the statutory holiday and production capacity may recover gradually after employees return.

Key 2027 festival dates to check

These are the festival dates, not a verified schedule of official 2027 holiday-and-make-up-workday arrangements. At the time this text was prepared (26 October 2026), the full 2027 State Council holiday timetable had not been confirmed for this document; verify it again before publishing or planning an actual shipment.

Example: 20 factory working days across the Spring Festival shutdown

Suppose production prerequisites are satisfied on 20 January 2027. The factory quotes 20 working days, but in this illustrative factory calendar production stops after 29 January and resumes on 22 February. These shutdown and restart dates are hypothetical, not the schedule of all Chinese factories.

Assuming Monday–Friday production and no other closures: eight working days fall on 20–29 January; 12 remain after restart, reaching approximately 9 March 2027. That is only the production-completion estimate—inspection, packing and transport come afterwards.

Do not simply add 20 consecutive calendar days, and do not subtract only the official holiday dates. Confirm the actual factory's working calendar and component availability.

Practical supplier question: obtain three dates

Ask for the last day on which this order can undergo normal production or testing before the holiday, the order-specific restart date, and the last realistic handover/collection date before the break. Check shipping cut-offs separately with the freight forwarder.

An office reopening date is not necessarily the date your order's assembly team and upstream components are ready.

5. Ask each party for the part of the schedule they actually control

Ask the factory or production manager when the correct configuration will be ready for the agreed inspection, and what remains unresolved. Ask the China-side forwarder for realistic collection, booking and transit arrangements based on packed dimensions and weight. Ask the destination importer, broker and local transporter what remains after arrival.

See the guide to production progress checks for the relevant checks.

A salesperson's combined “no problem” is not a substitute for separate stage-level evidence. Record forecast dates as forecasts; do not label an unconfirmed sailing or delivery as booked.

6. What if the calculation says the lift may be late?

Option A — Prepare parallel work earlier. Verify whether early document checks, shipping coordination or site preparation can genuinely shorten the critical path. Do not remove agreed inspections just to make the timetable look better.

Option B — Arrange temporary local rental. Confirm availability, minimum term, extension and return rules. Include this bridge cost in the economics of buying the imported machine.

Option C — Use a local solution for this project and buy for future work. If the imported lift cannot meet the job date with reasonable confidence, forcing it into this project may be the more expensive decision.

7. Use a backward schedule, not a single promised date

Positive headroom with adequate contingency: proceed while monitoring critical tasks. Possible on the base plan but no margin: line up a local fallback. Infeasible even after realistic adjustments: do not make this imported lift the project's only supply plan.

Have a job-site deadline? Ask Levantis to check the China-side milestones.

Send us the required usable-on-site date, destination and current quote or machine requirements. Levantis can help confirm factory status, the order-specific production/holiday schedule, inspection readiness and China-side handover arrangements. Destination clearance and local-use requirements must still be checked with the relevant parties.