Swire Projects Launches Asia-America Service

Swire Projects has launched a new dedicated semi-liner service connecting Asia with the West Coast of North America, a move that supports rising demand for transpacific breakbulk services while avoiding the increasingly congested Panama Canal.

In recent months, the Central American waterway has faced historic droughts that have restricted daily transits and caused serious delays for breakbulk and project cargo handlers, who have been forced to plan further out to secure slots or seek alternative routes.

Rufus Frere-Smith, regional head of Americas at Swire Projects, said the new service was driven by the need for a quality breakbulk solution catering to the project cargo and associated markets which has been “lacking in recent years”, a situation compounded by the current tightness in the RoRo market.

“But there is no doubt that there is increased uncertainty with shipping via the Panama Canal for the foreseeable future," he told Breakbulk. "The West Coast provides a reliable gateway for cargo which can be transported to the interior of the continent by rail and over the road which is time sensitive.”

Previously offered on an ad-hoc basis, Swire Projects’ new semi-liner service connects the base ports of Qingdao and Taicang in China and ports en route, with Everett in the U.S. state of Washington, and Vancouver in British Columbia.

The service will also offer inducement calls at various ports in Southeast Asia, the U.S. West Coast, and Mexico.

Swire Projects has selected its H-Class, 28,500-dwt MPP vessels to service the route, backed up by its I Type, 19,000-dwt MPPs. The open-hatched, tweendeckers have a lifting capacity of 160 to 480 tons and can ship a wide range of cargo including project cargo, breakbulk, dangerous goods, steel, forest products, and dry bulk.

According to Frere-Smith, Swire Projects already boasts existing infrastructure in the region and strong local relationships with key terminals and service providers.

“Sailings have commenced, and the type of cargo ranges from steel products, oil and gas equipment, wind and power project components, plant and machinery, cranes, ESS (energy storage systems) for solar and EV plants, yachts and SOCs (shipper-owned containers),” Frere-Smith said.

“On westbound legs we are typically focusing on bulk or bagged commodities, but we are also open to taking specialized cargoes such as IMDG, oil rigs, mining equipment and forestry products. We will continue to evolve the service to meet the needs of the market, and this could include broadening geographical scope where demand exists, which includes Southeast Asia, the Indian Sub-Continent and Australasia. We can also link our transpacific service with our recently launched monthly Western Australia service which connects North and Southeast Asia.”

Swire Projects is the projects and heavy lift shipping arm of Swire Shipping.


Swire Projects is a regular exhibitor at Breakbulk events. The next event in the calendar is Breakbulk Middle East 2024, taking place on 12-13 February at the Dubai World Trade Center.