KAREN EARNSHAW
An old friend of the Marshall Islands will be visiting our waters on Saturday, January 17. The friend is the Neptune Pacific Direct Line, which used to bring container vessels into Majuro, quit the route in 2020 but in 2026 is bringing Majuro back into its ocean loop.
According to Pacific Shipping Inc. Chief Operations Officer Jeffrey Riofrer, the NPDL’s Southern Pearl will dock on January 17.
“There is a plan to add one more NPDL ship to the route, but so far we are trying out this new route,” he said.
News of the revival of NPDL shipping services to Majuro was announced in the industry websites Container News and, subsequently, the World Ports Organization. According to the stories, the expansion of service is “aimed at improving efficiency, flexibility, and transit times across major Pacific trade routes…
“As part of the update, Neptune Pacific will introduce more frequent sailings from Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, supported by additional service strings to strengthen schedule reliability. Cargo moving from the United States will also benefit from faster, more direct routing, resulting in improved transit times and simplified connections.”
The Container News story said the new monthly port rotation for NPDL will be Lautoka, Suva, Majuro, Tarawa, Kiritimati (quarterly), Apia, and back to Lautoka. It added that “local service delivery will be supported by Pacific Shipping, a locally-owned and experienced agency providing specialist, on-the-ground support and end-to-end customer service.”
An industry expert commented that one of the positive aspects of the return of the southern connection is that numerous containers become stuck in Majuro without a ship to carry them south to, for example, Australia and New Zealand.
NPDl’s new route will help solve this problem, with Pacific Shipping’s Riofrer agreeing that this would be a bonus.