A NEW Asia Australia Consortium (A3) has been established in an effort to provide “more competitive service” and comprehensive coverage in the North East Asia/Australia container shipping market.

The consortium consists of Hong Kong-based container shipping company Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), Australian ANL Container Line Pty Ltd and China’s COSCO Container Lines (COSCON).

The A3 will launch three dedicated weekly services; Northern Express, Central Express and Southern Express, connecting 10 major North East Asia ports with Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in Australia.

The Northern Express service will have the following port rotation; Yokohama-Osaka-Busan-Qingdao-Shanghai-Kaohsiung-Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane-Yokohama.

The Central Express service will include the port rotation; Shanghai-Ningbo-Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane-Shanghai and the Southern Express service will stop in; Kaohsiung-Xiamen-Shekou-Hong Kong-Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane-Kaohsiung.