Swire Shipping offers fixed North Asia express service
Swire Shipping will operate its North Asia Express (NAX) service on a fixed-day fortnightly basis from November 2020 to better serve customers in the Asia-Pacific region. The newly upgraded service will connect North Asia with Papua New Guinea and Australia with a market-leading frequency of 14 days and will be supported through the deployment of Swire Shipping’s 2,750TEU newbuild vessels.
The fixed-day fortnightly service offers market-leading transit times to and from major ports in North Asia, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Under this enhancement, customers can look forward to a 9-day transit time from Hong Kong SAR to Lae.
“We are committed to developing and upgrading our product offerings so that we can improve overall customer experience and save our customer’s time. Our direct express services from Asia to the Pacific have always been popular with customers and we are pleased to be able to offer more options to them with these newly announced improved frequencies on the upgraded NAX service,” said Mr Jeremy Sutton, General Manager of Swire Shipping.
Swire Shipping will deploy three vessels (2,500TEU – 2,750TEU) on this service, including its first 2,750TEU newbuild vessel, MV Lae Chief, which will be delivered in October 2020. Fitted with 45mt cranes and capable of dual lifts, the vessel is well equipped to carry all cargo types, including breakbulk, out of gauge and reefers.
“Our significant investment in modern vessels and improving schedule reliability underpins our commitment to enriching lives by connecting our customers with the communities in the Pacific. This service upgrade will enable Swire Shipping’s customers to improve their supply chain efficiency and inventory management from both an import and export perspective. Swire Shipping has been a leading provider of shipping solutions in the Pacific region for more than 80 years and I am confident that these new changes over the next few months will enable us to serve our customers even better than before,” added Mr Sutton.
The NAX service is part of Swire Shipping’s comprehensive network that is focused on connecting global supply chains to the communities of Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. The service was first launched in July 2015 to provide a direct link between North Asia, Townsville in Australia and Lae in Papua New Guinea.