Swire Shipping announced today it would be expanding two key services in the Asia Pacific linking New Zealand, Australia and Papua New Guinea, at the same time rebooting its Australia-South East Asia service.
The China Navigation Company liner division will upgrade services out of Brisbane to New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.
These will include 12 additional calls by direct service from New Zealand to Brisbane, two additional sailings to its weekly liner service per month to Lae, PNG, and the reintroduction of regular services to SouthEast Asia.
Related news: Swire, Rickmers-Linie team up for India/Oceania service
“Swire Shipping is committed to growing and improving our extensive network in the Asia Pacific region to meet the needs of our customers,” General Manager Jeremy Sutton told IHS Maritime today.
As well as greater frequency, the services provide improved transit times and enhanced network coverage, he said.
Swire operates a fleet of multipurpose vessels, carrying containerised, refrigerated, project, break bulk and heavy lift cargoes.
Today’s announcement [31 August] follows the June 2015 launch of a Swire Shipping partnership with Rickmers-Line Indian and the Middle East services with its the Asia Pacific network via Singapore.
The following month Swire launched a new express service linking North Asia, PNG and Australia.
The North Asia Express (NAX) service provides direct links between Townsville in Australia, Lae, PNG and North Asia. NAX allows a 16-day transit between Shanghai and Lae, with a 10-day transit between Townsville and Shanghai.
More recently the company has also been reported by local press to be contemplating a transshipment operation through Brisbane out of Tasmania. Swire Shipping declined to comment at the time.
It has not been all plain sailing, however. Earlier this year the company dropped its Brisbane to Darwin coastal service – a decision at the time Shipping Australia Ltd blamed on federal government restrictions impeding foreign vessels trading domestically.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
