"K" LINE, MISC and PIL are extending their existing Asia to South Africa Service by deploying larger vessels and extending the port coverage to include mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, starting from late April.

As a result, the revamped Asia-South Africa Service will deploy seven containerships of between 3,300 and 3,800 TEU capacity, with "K" Line and MISC each contributing three vessels and PIL the remaining one.

Colombo is being added to the existing service to offer customers wider market coverage and faster transit times in the North Asia region and will connect the service to high growth markets on the Indian subcontinent and in the Middle East.

The new port rotation will be: Shanghai, Ningbo, Kaohsiung, Shekou, Hong Kong, Singapore, Port Kelang, Colombo, Durban, Cape Town, Colombo, Port Kelang, Singapore, Hong Kong and back to Shanghai with round trips taking 49 days.

The deployment of larger vessels is expected to commence in June. The larger capacity containerships will significantly increase the number of reefer plugs to meet growing demand for space on what is described as a "continually expanding eastbound trade", said a statement issued by "K" Line.