National freight conference

Organisers report that the 2020 Vision Australian Freight Conference is already attracting strong support from industry sponsors as well as a top quality range of speakers. The Changing Face of Freight - 2020 Vision for the 21st Century conference will be held on Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 October 2007 in Adelaide, South Australia.
The conference will focus on how freight is changing and what is driving it in key regions.

Increase in shipping capacity

Members of the Oceania Vessel Sharing Agreement are adding larger ships and refining port calls in their two services connecting US West Coast (USWC) ports with Australia/New Zealand. In the Pacific South West (PSW) service, six ships averaging 1,800 TEU are being replaced with units of 2,500 TEU, a near 40% rise in capacity. The revised PSW schedule will offer direct calls at Oakland, Long Beach, Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney, Tauranga, Suva, and Honolulu (monthly), before returning to Oakland. The main change in the Pacific North West (PNW) itinerary is the inclusion of Adelaide.
The full itinerary of the PNW loop will comprise calls at Oakland, Seattle, Vancouver (BC), Long Beach, Tauranga, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Auckland, Papeete, Ensenada and return to Oakland. The members of Oceania are the German-based carriers, Hamburg Süd and Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk Line. The new set-up will commence operations in mid-July.