News / Carriers launch new services to cater for growing China-South-east Asia trade

Mainline operators and intra-Asia carriers are deploying more capacity to China-South-east Asia routes amid the growing trade between China and ASEAN.

Taiwan’s three main shipping lines, Evergreen, Yang Ming and Wan Hai, will launch a joint North China-Indonesia-Malaysia service on 31 October, which connects Dalian, Tianjin (Xingang), Qingdao, Ningbo, Surabaya, Jakarta, Singapore, Port Klang, Kaohsiung and Dalian.

Five 2,400-3,000 teu ships will be deployed, the first voyage by the Ever Order. The other ships are Ever Oasis, Ever Origin, Wan Hai 363, and YM Continuity, according to Linerlytica.

Yang Ming cited the “robust growth of the Indonesian market and increasing regional trade demand” as the reasons for starting the service.

And Shanghai Jin Jiang Shipping, Shanghai International Port Group’s liner subsidiary, will launch more routes between China and South-east Asia after that trade rose 13%, to $37.1bn, in the first six months of this year.

The intra-Asia carrier’s chairman, Shen Wei, also announced orders for up to four 1,100 teu ships at Sumec Marine, and added that JJ Shipping would also cultivate emerging markets, such as South Asia and the Middle East.

In H1 25, JJ Shipping’s net profit was up 150% from a year ago, to $111m, as front-loading boosted volumes, and Mr Shen said: “In April, we launched the Ho Chi Minh Silk Road Express, which offers express voyages between Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh in 4.5 days and Shanghai and Hai Phong in four days.

“In June, we launched services connecting China with South Korea and Pakistan, and we’re cultivating emerging markets such as South Asia and the Middle East.”

Container Trade Statistics shows intra-Asia volumes totalled 28.45m teu in the first seven months of 2025, with average year-on-year growth of 5.8% and Xeneta’s chief analyst, Peter Sand, told The Loadstar shipping lines interest in South-east Asia was not limited to Indonesia.

He said: “For ‘China+X’ strategies, I see an interest in all of South-east Asia. Thailand seems an even more ‘in focus’ option for making supply chains, with manufacturing in South-east Asia, more resilient. Currently, Indonesia has only two ports, Jakarta and Surabaya, that offer the required connectivity to the rest of the world that would be required.”