SWIRE Shipping has opened a new branch office in Nuku’alofa this month.
The Tonga office is the company’s 24th office in the South Pacific.
Swire Shipping has a long history calling in to Tonga.
The company said for more than six decades – and via various liner services – it has moved import and export cargo, and now continues to serve the community via two liner services, Pacific North Asia Service and New Zealand Eastern Pacific Service.
In the 1960s, Swire Shipping also operated a passenger cruise service that called at Tonga.
Swire Shipping regional manager – Pacific Islands Alex Pattison said the company began trading into Tonga in 1959.
“Since then, with the support of our agents, we have established our presence in the country. Now as part of a longer-term strategy to have our own offices where we have scale and makes sense to do so, we have set up the Nuku’alofa branch,” Mr Pattison said.
“This also reflects Swire Shipping’s continued commitment to communities in the Pacific Islands – to engaging with and investing in the communities in which we serve, work and live.”
Taking charge at the new branch office is Christina Heng, who has been with Swire Shipping for more than five years.
