Fifteen markets will soon answer to one office in Singapore. Ocean Network Express, the container line known as ONE, announced at the end of September that it is merging its East Asia and South Asia regional headquarters into a single Asia Pacific operation, with the change taking effect on April 1, 2027.
Until now the work has been split. East Asia is run from Hong Kong, South Asia from Singapore. Louis Tang becomes Region Head, Asia Pacific when the merged structure starts. Tang told staff and customers that the wider view will give ONE one team for cargo moving between East and South Asia, according to FreightWaves.
Africa goes to Dubai
A second change runs in parallel. East, West and South Africa will move under ONE’s Dubai regional headquarters. London keeps Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa. Dubai is not new ground for the carrier. FreightWaves quoted Sundeep Sibal, ONE’s region head for West Asia, as saying the Dubai office already handles much of Africa’s trade with Asia, India and the Middle East. Putting the African markets under that team, he said, lets the line plan services and capacity along the whole corridor together.
What the company says stays the same
ONE stressed that customers should notice little at first. Contracts, existing services and daily operations carry on unchanged, and local teams remain the main contact for shippers. Reporting lines will change in phases, with current teams staying in their roles initially and further alignment of functions and responsibilities coming later. That means no single cutover date across 15 Asian markets and several African ones.
Chief executive Till Ole Barrelet framed it as a push for speed. “Asia Pacific and Africa are important growth regions for ONE,” he said, adding that the regional headquarters sit closest to customers and markets and that the changes should allow faster decisions and support further investment in both regions. Both moves fall under the company’s “ONE 2030” strategy.
A big network, a small change on paper
ONE is ranked sixth among global carriers, according to FreightWaves. It operates more than 280 vessels with capacity above 2.2 million TEU and serves more than 120 countries. The Singapore-based line was formed from the container businesses of Japan’s K Line, MOL and NYK.
IN Supply pointed out what the reorganisation does not do: it adds no ships, services or terminal capacity. Regional offices sit between global network planning and individual country operations, handling commercial priorities, capacity and the response to local cargo demand. Putting Hong Kong’s and Singapore’s markets under one manager is meant to speed up and even out those calls. Whether it does will only show after April 2027, once the new structure has been running with local customer teams still in place.
Sources
- ONE consolidates Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore | IN Supply
- ONE restructures in key ocean region
