APL will launch weekly intra-Asia service this month linking China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
APL will operate its China Indonesia Straits Service with four container ships with capacities of 3,000 20-foot equivalent units each.
The service will start on Nov. 14 from Shanghai with the sailing of the APL Sydney.
The world's fifth-largest container line on the JOC list of Top 15 Container Fleet Operators said the China Indonesia Straits Service will "densify" its Intra-Asia network.
"We're addressing the ever-increasing requirement for direct-call service to key Asian growth markets," said Jason Wong, vice president of APL's Intra-Asia Trade.
The China Indonesia Straits Service is the third new dedicated intra-Asia service that APL has introduced since 2009.
APL said it will be among the industry's fastest from China into Jakarta and Surabaya.
The port rotation includes Shanghai (Waigaoqiao), Ningbo, Xiamen, Chiwan, Singapore, Jakarta, Surabaya, Jakarta, Port Klang (Westport), Singapore, Laem Chabang and Shanghai.
Shipping executives told the recent Journal of Commerce Trans-Pacific Maritime Asia event that trade between China and Southeast Asia has grown some 50 percent this year since the enactment of a free trade agreement between China and the founding members of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations.
-- Contact Peter T. Leach at firstname.lastname@example.org.