APL Enhances China-Australia Coverage - Partnership with Cosco and PIL will provide wider coverage and faster

Global container transportation
leader, APL, is set to enhance its coverage of the fast-growing trade
between China and Australia with the launch of a new weekly service in
partnership with ocean carriers Cosco and PIL.

The China Australia Service (CAS) will offer customers highly
competitive transit times and direct connections between major
destinations in both countries.

For example, the CAS offers direct calls at Qingdao, which is a major
hub in the Bohai Bay area, as well as the Yangtze River Delta gateways
of Ningbo and Shanghai. Moreover, the service also covers the primary
Australian east coast destinations of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

"China's growth continues to exceed expectations and its trade with
Australia is becoming increasingly important," said APL Greater China
President, Dan Ryan. "Calls at Qingdao and Ningbo provide fast access
to all key Chinese production and sourcing locations. Also, our
efficient relay service provides the CAS with reach to other core
Asian markets such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan as well as the Americas."

The service, which is due to begin operations on 2 October, will
deploy five ships each between 2,900-2,950 TEU capacity on a weekly
loop. Importantly, the vessels will have significant refrigerated and
climate-controlled cargo handling capabilities to service the growing
demand for fresh produce in the trade.

Eng Aik Meng, APL's Senior Vice President for the Intra-Asia/Middle
East and Australia trades, said: "This enhanced service greatly
strengthens our offering to importers and exporters in this
increasingly critical trade lane. The CAS is part of our global
commitment to offer our customers greater speed, efficiency and
reliability."

Northbound benchmark transit times include Sydney to Chiwan in 20 days
and Brisbane to Ningbo in just 15 days. In the other direction, Chiwan
to Brisbane takes 17 days and Hong Kong to Melbourne transit time is
12 days.