Integration of Westwood Shipping Lines and Opening of New Tokyo Branch

2024-01-31

Dear Valued Customer,

As we continue to enhance and upgrade our network, I am pleased to announce that Westwood Shipping Lines will officially change its name to Swire Shipping on 1 February. This rebranding represents the culmination of a journey we began in 2022, with the acquisition of Westwood as part of efforts to expand our services in North America.

Serving our customers under one unified brand will allow us to build on Westwood’s deep legacy in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia, enabling a more seamless customer experience, and leveraging synergies in containers, networks, and projects across the global Swire Shipping network to better serve customers throughout North America, Japan, South Korea, and China.

Moving forward, we will continue to operate our Puyallup, WA, office as the regional hub for our North America operations. Westwood’s seven-vessel fleet will become the Westwood service within our expanded global network, with four vessels retaining their existing Westwood name and green hulls in a nod to its 130-year legacy.

Opening of New Tokyo Office

In recognition of the strong ties with our Japanese customers and their supply chains, as well as to strengthen our transpacific reach, we have also announced the establishment of a new office in Tokyo, Japan, bringing representation in-house and enabling more direct engagement with customers.

This has allowed us to leverage local knowledge and expertise to bring agency representations previously held by Ben Line Agencies (Japan) Ltd and Senwa Maritime Agency Ltd in-house. To maintain strong customer relationships and ensure continuity, staff from Ben Line Agencies and Senwa Maritime have been transferred to the new Swire Shipping branch office.

The integration of Westwood Shipping Lines and the opening of a new Tokyo branch reflect our continued investment and expansion in the North Pacific, as well as our commitment to delivering the high levels of safety, customer service, and reliability you have come to expect from Swire Shipping. We thank you for your continued support and we look forward to serving you even better in the future.

Yours sincerely,

Jeremy Sutton
Chief Executive Officer, Swire Shipping