Swire Shipping, a leading shipping company in the Asia-Pacific, announced a significant upgrade to its North Asia Express (NAX) service with the introduction of fixed-day weekly sailings and expanded capacity.
Effective 22 August 2025, the service will offer market-leading speed and reliability, significantly enhancing connectivity between the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong SAR and Papua New Guinea.
The upgraded NAX service will feature a weekly port rotation of Shanghai – Ningbo – Nansha – Hong Kong – Lae – Shanghai, with the fastest direct connection currently in the market from Lae to Shanghai.
Reliable trans-shipment connections to Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Fiji will be available in Lae via Swire Shipping’s service network in the South Pacific, through its Papua New Guinea (PNG) fortnightly service and Pacific Weekly Express (PWX) service.
Randy Selvaratnam, chief commercial officer of Swire Shipping said that the upgrade reflects company’s ongoing commitment to supporting customer supply chains with dependable, high-frequency services across the region.
“Upgrading our North Asia Express (NAX) service to a weekly frequency doubles the number of sailings available to customers, giving them faster access to markets and more options to align shipments with production cycles, inventory needs and delivery timelines,” Selvaratnam said.
“This reflects our continued investment in expanding capacity and high-frequency shipping solutions that support our customers’ evolving supply chain needs,” he added.
The upgraded NAX service will be the second in Swire Shipping’s comprehensive network in the Asia-Pacific to offer weekly connections into Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. It follows the successful launch of the PWX service in February 2023, which connects Southeast Asia with Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Fiji on a weekly schedule.
The NAX service was first launched in July 2015 to provide a direct link between North Asia and the South Pacific, and was upgraded in October 2020 to a fixed-day fortnightly service to better support customers’ supply chains.
Swire Shipping, a leading shipping company in the Asia-Pacific, is the wholly owned, deep-sea shipowning and operating arm of the multinational Swire Group. Headquartered in Singapore, Swire Shipping is dedicated to facilitating and growing trade in the regions where it operates.
The company provides several high-frequency liner shipping services and integrated logistics solutions in the Asia-Pacific; transpacific services between North Asia and the Pacific Northwest; and specialist shipping services to the global project logistics market under the brand name Swire Projects.
The company specialises in providing a wide range of specialist customer solutions for containerised, project, heavy-lift, refrigerated, breakbulk and mini bulk cargoes. Swire Shipping maintains a worldwide agency network in addition to its own representative offices across the Asia-Pacific, Pacific Islands, North America and Europe, providing customers with dedicated service and expert market knowledge.
