Swire Shipping are pleased to announce the deployment of an additional vessel on our PNA service. The Melanesian Chief will be Swire Shipping’s 5th operated vessel and the 9th vessel in total on the service.

The Melanesian Chief will join PNA in September and perform a unique standalone rotation covering Busan – Majuro – Tarawa – Lae – Busan on a monthly frequency. Majuro and Tarawa calls will be removed from the PNA rotations operated by our 4 existing vessels.

This transfer of coverage to the Melanesian Chief’s new rotation will improve the schedule integrity and port coverage of the PNA service, with additional time reserved to accommodate unforeseen delays and minimise port omissions. These have been commonplace as shipping activity and congestion have increased in the region.

Transit times from Asia also improve by 2 to 4 days across our range of South Pacific markets.

Materials describing the service improvements will soon be available on our website, and schedules have been updated to reflect these changes this week.

We appreciate your continued support and look forward to working with you. Should you have any questions, please contact your local Swire Shipping representative.