THE STAR, July 1st, 2002 - THE Australia Southeast Asia (ASA) service, which promises to offer fast and reliable connectivity into major ports in Australia for customers and cargo owners, began its service at Westport last month

The ASA consortium, made up of Lloyd Triestino, Hanjin, and Regional Container Lines (RCL), has recently phased in bigger and faster ships into the service, deploying four new vessels boasting service speeds of up to 21 knots. The ASA service, which started in 1991, had vessels that travelled at a maximum speed of 18 knots.

"With the extra increase in speed, the ASA service is now able to carry extra tonnage from Australia to Singapore and Port Klang," said Lloyd Triestino country manager Richard Tan.

Prior to increasing the speed, an ASA-bound vessel used to carry 1,600 tonnes. The vessels are now capable of carrying between 1,800 to 2,000 tonnes.

With the increase in tonnage, the service is also adding Port Klang on to its route.

Prior to this, ASA has never called in any ports in Malaysia and the mv Champion was the first vessel to berth at Westport under the ASA service.

"Port Klang was chosen as one of the ports of call along the ASA route because we feel that Malaysia is able to meet the growing demands and it is able to offer faster and more reliable connectivity to the Australian ports," Tan said.

The ASA service will be calling weekly at Westport, with a rotation route including Singapore, Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne.

"We wanted to maintain a fixed schedule, and we believe that a weekly service is more than adequate for ASA " Tan said, adding that by calling at Westport, the ASA service is able to make single calls in Singapore.

The service will offer faster deliveries to Brisbane in 11 days, while services to Sydney will take 14 days, and Melbourne 17 days.

In addition, Westport consignees will also be offered a direct Melbourne-to-Westport service in only 11 days.

For the inbound voyage, the ASA service carries wood products, furniture, and dairy products and vegetables, fruits, cotton, and dairy products on the outbound.

"Because of the high volume of products coming out of Melbourne, the ASA service has developed a direct Melbourne-to-Port Klang service that takes 11 days," Tan said.

Westport business development general manager Hans Troelsen said the provision of the new direct service into Australia was clearly in keeping with the pioneering spirit that had seen the ASA partners extending further commitments to the terminal.

The ASA partners have individually and collectively played major roles in developing Westport into a major domestic load centre and a regional transshipment hub, he said.