Shipping company welcomes new partnership

D.N Patel and Company Pte Ltd, a customs, freight forwarding, cartage and shipping services company has welcomed Matson South Pacific’s new partnership with Shipping Services Fiji.

With a dedicated Matson agent in Fiji - Oceania Agencies Pte Ltd, D.N Patel expects quality and efficient service that guarantees success.

Chief operating officer Teijesh Patel said the company has been with Matson since day one and has found no other service provider that is not only business oriented, but also focused on creating personal relationships with clients.

“They’ve already been here for 10 years and with this new local partnership that they have committed to, I think there would be good public relations and reputation in the market,” Mr Patel said.

“It would only make customers like ourselves ensured that the support is always there.

“I have access to speak to anyone I want at Matson and when I pick up the phone and need something done, it’s done.”

On November 1, Oceania Agencies officially commenced operation to handle port-to-port shipping of cargoes with trading routes to and from Auckland, Lautoka, Suva, Apia, Pago Pago, Samoa, Rarotonga and Aitutaki, Niue, Va’vau and Nuku’alofa.

Mr Patel said gone were the days when one would just look at cost as receiving containers on time. Loading them and getting space available was equally important.

“I’ve had competitors of Matson offer me cheaper rates, but not once have I looked at switching.”

Matson South Pacific’s general manager Greg Chu said they decided to switch from Williams and Gosling for different reasons.

“We thought it was time to go to a new agent, and we did our due diligence and were impressed with the operations of Shipping Services Fiji,” he said.