SEA Lead Shipping is officially entering the Australian market with the launch of a new service linking Australia with south China.

The shipping line is deploying a vessel on a new Australia-China service launching on Thursday (10 March).

The six vessels serving the weekly service have an average capacity of 3900 TEU and will be deployed by Pacific International Lines, T.S. Lines and Yang Ming, in addition to Sea Lead.

Sea Lead managing director Cho Kit Wei said: “We are delighted to introduce this new service in response to demand from our customers. We are confident that the market in Oceania will respond well to this new, express service, and we look forward to developing strong partnerships on this trade lane”.

The port rotation on the Australia-China service is Qingdao – Shanghai – Nansha – Shekou – Sydney – Melbourne – Brisbane – Qingdao.

Earlier this month, Sea Lead announced the launch of a new service linking the east coast of Asia with the east coast of the US.

The company said the Asia East Coast (AEC) service would provide shippers with a reliable and timely service that avoids the port congestion that is hampering efficient service at many other ports. The new weekly service commenced on 7 March with the first sailing from Nansha.

The AEC service marks the company’s first regular service to the east coast of the US and will be served by four ships with an average capacity of 6100 TEU.

Sea Lead said it was looking at possible vessel-sharing arrangements with partners with the aim of improving the frequency of the service.

These new services add to Sea Lead’s existing services that cover the Far East to the US, India, Middle East, Mediterranean, and Europe. The company said it would see further expansion in the near future.

Sea Lead is a privately owned shipping line based in Dubai and Singapore. The company was established in 2017 and it specialises in container shipping.

According to Alphaliner, on 9 March the company has a total capacity of 87,180 TEU and is the 22nd largest container carrier in the world. All 23 of its ships are chartered.

In Australia, Nautical Shipping, a subsidiary of Leeward Group, is Sea Lead’s agent.