First U.S. Lines ship sails from Hong Kong
The first ship of U.S. Lines, a new transpacific shipping line venture, was scheduled to sail from Hong Kong on Tuesday (Dec. 30) night, headed for Long Beach. The first chartered vessel, the “Masovia,” has a container capacity of 1,550 TEUs and a speed of 20.5 knots. Its stevedoring operations were handled mid-stream in the port of Hong Kong.
The new shipping line, backed by Ed Aldridge and other senior shipping executives, aims to provide a low-cost China/Hong Kong/U.S. weekly service with five chartered ships. However, marketing literature from the carrier suggests that the service will initially be fortnightly.
U.S. Lines is the first new entrant in the transpacific trade since 1999. The management of the shipping line has bought the name “U.S. Lines” to be allowed to trade under this name. The original U.S. Lines stopped trading in 1986.
The schedule and transit times of U.S. Lines and all other transpacific liner operators are posted on the global liner shipping ComPairData at http://www.compairdata.com .