JAPANESE shipping giant NYK will launch a new South Pacific Link (SPL) multi-purpose service between the Far East and the South Pacific Islands from January 12 run by its unit NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers.
The SPL service will provide multipurpose semi-container vessels that will make 72-day round trips every 18 days.
The vessels are expected to carry completed cars, containers and conventional cargo with the first vessel in the SPL service being the 18,091-dwt South Islander calling at Busan on January 12.
While the port rotation has not been fixed, the service intends to call at Kaohsiung, Busan, Kobe, Nagoya, Yokohama, Tarawa (Kiribati), Honiara (Solomon Islands), Santo (Vanuatu), Port Vila (Vanuatu), Noumea (New Caledonia), Lautoka (Fiji), Suva (Fiji), Apia (Samoa), Pago Pago (American Samoa), Papeete (French Polynesia) and Nukualofa (Tonga).
