Neptune Pacific Direct Line expands services network to the South Pacific

Neptune Pacific Direct Line (NPDL) has announced the commencement of liner services from the West Coast USA (WCUSA) to the South Pacific. Beginning in July 2023, the NPDL WCUSA service will operate from Oakland, CA and Long Beach, CA to Papeete, Apia, and Pago Pago with transhipment connections to Nukualofa. The new service will operate on a 20-day frequency under a capacity agreement on the Polynesia Service.

The commencement of the WCUSA service builds on the recently announced ANZPAC service, which sails on a fixed day fortnightly rotation between Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga. As a result, the expanded network creates additional transhipment connection opportunities from Apia (Samoa) to WCUSA, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. NPDL has appointed Norton Lilly International as the WCUSA agent to provide shipping and port logistics services.

“We are thrilled to announce this pivotal initiative which provides Pacific Island customers access to the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and Asian markets,” said Greg Wilson, President, NPDL. “This network expansion also provides cargo owners with an alternative service between the WCUSA, Australia, and New Zealand.”

Owned by The Wonderful Company, NPDL is the leading shipping and logistics company in the South Pacific. NPDL offers liner shipping and end-to-end supply chain services between Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and 16 countries and 22 ports in the South Pacific, including Fiji (Suva and Lautoka), Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga (Nuku’alofa and Vava’u), Tahiti, Cook Islands (Rarotonga and Aitutaki), Norfolk, Kiribati (Tarawa and Kiritimati), Tuvalu, Wallis and Futuna, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia (Noumea), Vanuatu (Port Vila and Santo), and Marshall Islands (Majuro). The company also provides fortnightly services between Australia and New Zealand. Currently, NPDL’s fully owned fleet includes nine vessels supported by onshore logistics assets and a dedicated agency staff.

When Neptune Pacific Line acquired Pacific Direct Line (PDL) in 2020, it brought together two of the South Pacific’s top shipping and logistics companies to support the full supply chain of customers in the region. Further, the combination of Neptune and PDL offers a broad suite of supply chain services and underscores NPDL’s broader growth and expansion strategy, thus reinforcing its position as the most extensive regional shipping network.

NPDL operations include ship management and chartering, shipping agencies, cruise agencies, stevedoring (port operations), warehousing, container consolidations, fumigation and customs clearance, trucking and container depot operations, airfreight, and fuel brokerage. To promote vertical integration across the supply chain, NPDL continually develops additional businesses to provide more comprehensive logistics options at sea, on land, and in the air.