Swire Shipping, the China Navigation Company, which has been operating business for 200 years opened their new office in Walu Bay, Suva, yesterday.

This was confirmed by Swire Shipping managing director James Woodrow said:

“We are very proud of opening a branch office here.

“So now we have our own branch office here in Fiji to represent us.”

Swire Shipping has bought out Pacific Agencies to open here.

“We owned 50% of Pacific Agencies and recently Swire Shipping has taken over 100% of the business now.”

The shipping company has been servicing the Fijian markets since 1958.

“In Fiji, Swire Shipping provides shipping services from around the world in to Fiji and provides services for Fiji exports out to the world. We bring wheat to both Lautoka and Suva for Flour Mills of Fiji (FMF) and we take Fiji sugar from Lautoka to United Kingdom.

“Our ships come from Australia, Singapore, South East Asia, China, Korea and Japan, so we are really servicing the whole world into Fiji. We also take exports to the various manufacturers from Fiji out tothe Pacific Islands and also back to Australia and New Zealand.”

In terms of business, Mr Woodrow has revealed that Fiji will be a good place for operations. Fiji is at the heart of the Pacific so it is actually a good place to operate from. There are a lot of manufacturers here in Fiji that export their goods to other countries.

“We are looking at slowly expanding our business in Fiji.”

Currently 30 vessels from Swire Shipping Company operate in the Pacific.

MORE ON WOODROW

Mr Woodrow was appointed Managing Director of The China Navigation Company, the deep-sea shipping arm of the Swire group in September 2015.

He was formerly Director Cargo for Cathay Pacific (2013-2015) and General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing for Cathay Pacific (2010-2013).

He was also a Director of Air Hong Kong Limited, Air China Cargo Limited, Cathay Pacific China Cargo Holdings Limited, Cathay Pacific Services Limited, Global Logistics System (HK) Company Limited, Global Logistics Systems Worldwide Company for Development of Freight Information Networks GmbH, HAS GSE Solutions Limited and Hong Kong Services Limited.

Before joining the Cargo team, Mr Woodrow was General Manager Japan for Cathay Pacific, responsible for managing 350 employees in six cities in Japan and overseeing the operation of almost 100 flights a week.

Mr Woodrow joined John Swire and Sons in September 1990 and spent 15 years in the sea freight industry with Swire Shipping in Tokyo, Sydney and Auckland, and Steamships Trading Company Limited in Papua New Guinea. Mr Woodrow was born in the United Kingdom and educated at Bedford School and Cambridge University where he read Economics and Law.

He has attended executive programmes at INSEAD and Stanford Graduate School of Business.