Effects on regional development of the customer service and performance of ASEAN-Australian shipping services

The topic of this dissertation suggests and assesses the importance of the Asean-Australian shipping services in helping shape the regional economic development surrounding the ports that it serves along its routes. This study makes a special reference to the development of the new Kuantan Port in its defined role of acting as a catalyst in speeding up the economic development of the East Coast states of Peninsular Malaysia, i.e. Pahang, Trengganu and Kelantan. This research paper investigates in particular the potential of this Kuantan Port in linking with the other neighbouring Asean ports in serving the import and export trade between the Asean region and Australian including New Zealand. Due to geographical and logistic reasons, Australia does not have much choice but to work very closely with her Asean neighbours in developing their respective economies