Jim Wilson

ANL has today (Friday 15 August) announced a new direct shipping service connecting China to Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Brisbane, Australia. The first sailing is scheduled to depart Shanghai, China on September 17, 2025. Operating on a 42-day rotation with three dedicated vessels, APR2 provides a 14-day frequency between sailings. This new loop is...

Swire Shipping, a shipping company in the Asia-Pacific, has announced an upgrade to its North Asia Express (NAX) service with the introduction of fixed-day weekly sailings and expanded capacity. Effective 22 August 2025, the service will offer enhanced connectivity between the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong SAR and Papua New Guinea. The upgraded NAX service will...

Ethyl formate in combination with carbon dioxide has been approved as a new biosecurity treatment for Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) from 01 September 2025 (i.e. the start of the stink bug season). The ethyl formate fumigation methodology (version 1.0) and associated treatment documentation templates have been published and are available on the Department of...

GloNoise, a global project set-up to tackle underwater noise from shipping has been authorised by its board to continue until December 2026. The project aims to support the IMO Guidelines for the Reduction of Underwater Noise from Commercial Shipping for the purposes of reducing harm to marine life. Representatives from 34 countries met, alongside officials...

Further huge price hikes have been imposed by seaports on the shipping industry working in Australia. Southern Ports, which operates the ports at Albany, Bunbury, and Esperance, has imposed sweeping fee hikes on shipping as of 01 July 2025. At the port of Esperance, Southern Ports, has imposed: a 5% hike in the pilotage charge...

Australia has thousands of industrial standards and there are potential annual savings worth billions of dollars from simplification and harmonisation, the Productivity Commission has found. Thousands of standards There are 7,519 Australian standards, of which 893 are incorporated in legislation. Of the Incorporated Standards, only 22% are identical to international standards. The rest are either...

Shipping Australia was pleased to meet the IMO Secretary General during his visit to Australia recently. SAL CEO Capt Melwyn Noronha attended an evening briefing and welcome dinner, while the secretariat staff attended a Round Table hosted by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts. Discussions were wide ranging on...

Law firm HFW has expanded its global shipping practice and continued the growth of its Asia Pacific practice with the appointment of shipping litigation and international arbitration partner, Elizabeth Sloane, based in Melbourne. Elizabeth joins HFW from Stephenson Harwood having spent nine years in its shipping disputes practice in Hong Kong. She previously worked at...

A new regional presence has been set up by the International Maritime Organization, the UN specialised agency responsible for global shipping policy. The IMO inaugurated a new regional presence office in Suva, Fiji, “marking a milestone for regional maritime cooperation and capacity development in the Pacific,” the IMO said. The new office is hosted by...

Putting maritime policy into practice will be the two year theme for  the IMO’s World Maritime Day in 2026 and 2027. Having a two-year theme is highly unusual for the International Maritime Organization. IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez, who proposed the two-year theme, talked of the IMO’s commitment to ensuring regulations are put into action. “This...