SWIRE Shipping is introducing the new North West Australia direct (NWD) service from June. It will offer a direct connection between Singapore and north western Australia. 

The new service is made up of two loops. The first loop will serve Singapore, Darwin, Port Hedland and operate with a transit time of 12 days from Singapore to Port Hedland. The second loop will operate from Singapore to Dampier, with a transit time of nine days. 

The vessels 

The company will deploy a geared 7602-DWT multi-purpose vessel MV Souni, on Loop 1 of the new service (Singapore – Darwin – Port Hedland – Singapore). 

On Loop 2 (Singapore – Dampier – Singapore), Swire will have slot access to MV Karratha Bay, a 7520-DWT vessel operated by SeaSwift. Both vessels are capable of carrying containerised, out-of-gauge and breakbulk cargo. 

Swire said the direct connections will enable its customers in the region to better plan their inventory and manage their supply chains more efficiently. Customers who previously relied on inland transport through the Fremantle gateway now have an option to transport cargo to and from north west Australia. 

Swire Shipping general manager for the Pacific Randy Selvaratnam said: “We are pleased to offer customers in the region a direct connection between Singapore and North West Australia through our new NWD service. Over the past few years, we have made significant investments to improve our product offerings and provide more direct connections so that we can save our customers’ time.” 

The carbon factor 

The new service between Singapore and Port Hedland also aims to reduce the overall carbon footprint from cargo delivery on current modes of transport. 

To transport cargo from Singapore to Port Hedland, customers previously needed to ship their cargo from Singapore to Fremantle before using inland transportation to Port Hedland. With this new service, customers can now ship their cargo directly from Singapore to Port Hedland, which, Swire said, will reduce carbon emissions by up to 35,000 metric tons a year (Calculated based on moving 12,000 containers per year). This is the equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions produced from 7600 passenger vehicles in a year, according to the US EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator, United States Environmental Protection Agency. 

“Swire Shipping is committed to having a positive impact on the communities and the environment where we operate,” Mr Selvaratnam said. 

“In addition to deploying modern and eco-friendly vessels, we also seek innovative ways to minimise our carbon footprint as part of our decarbonisation journey. This is one of the many steps we are taking to reduce overall carbon emissions and achieve our long-term goal of decarbonisation.”