Swire Shipping today (9 October) announced it would expand its Australian service to Hobart, Tasmania.
The new service provides both domestic shipments out of Tasmania to Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane as well as a connecting Hobart to global trade in the Asia Pacific and the United States via trans shipments.
The liner shipping division of The China Navigation Company (CNCo) already services Bell Bay through its Australia Pacific Asia service.
Shipping Australia Limited today welcomed the move.
“It puts Hobart back on the map as a cargo port and shows the company’s commitment to improving shipping services to Tasmania,” CEO Rod Nairn told IHS Maritime. “Swire are clearly willing to take a risk, but the outcome will provide new opportunities for Tasmanians to get their exports to international markets at more competitive costs.”
Only two months ago, on 31 August, Swire Shipping announced it was boosting its services in the Asia Pacific region out of Brisbane Australia. This included introducing a dedicated Trans-Tasman service linking New Zealand, doubling its weekly service to Lae, Papua New Guinea and the reintroduction of the South East Asia service out of Brisbane, including Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore.
In June this year Swire Shipping launched a partnership with Rickmers Line connecting a further 12 ports in India and the Middle East via Singapore. Swires also runs a service to Shanghai.
Today’s announcement comes on the heels of reports that Chinese Australian business group Auschin have been facilitating Chinese investment in Tasmania’s horticultural industry.
“Swire Shipping is committed to providing direct international shipping services to Tasmania,” Brodie Stevens, Country Manager for Australia said. “We have been working closely with our partners to develop this service and are confident that the Tasmanian industry will benefit from the shipping options for international and domestic cargo.”
An earlier plan by the Tasmanian government to subsidise Swires to ship direct from Tasmania to Asia was abandoned last year after an federal government AUD203 million (USD149 million) subsidy was extended to Tasmania export container cargo transshipped through Melbourne.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
