APL enhances North Asia feeder service

Box liner APL has expanded its North Asia Philippines Express (NPX) feeder service to cover central China and Manila in the Philippines beginning this month, Seatrade-asia reports. The service enhancements also include two weekly calls to Manila from Kaohsiung for improved connectivity across Asia, APL announced Wednesday. South China and Hong Kong markets are better served with direct calls to Manila, said APL. Enhanced connections also link Philippine markets with central China and other Asian markets through calls in Kaohsiung. South East Asian markets can connect at Kaohsiung with APL's intra-Asia services, Korea China Straits (KCS) and Japan Thailand Vietnam (JTV) services. North Asia cargo bound for the Philippines can connect to NPX using KCS and JTV services via Hong Kong. APL will deploy three vessels, each with a capacity of 1,100 teu. Port rotation for the NPX will be Ningbo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Kaohsiung, Manila, Cebu, Cagayan, Kaohsiung and Ningbo.