First U.S. Lines ship arrives at Long Beach

First U.S. Lines ship arrives at Long Beach       U.S. Lines' first vessel, the “Masovia,” arrived on Tuesday at Hanjin Shipping's Pier T container terminal in Long Beach.
   The 1,550-TEU ship arrived 14 days after leaving from Hong Kong, and on schedule. The vessel is due to leave Long Beach tomorrow morning, heading back to China.
   The latest new entrant in the transpacific trade, U.S. Lines is headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif., and partly owned by its management.
   Its new service calls at Long Beach; Shekou, China; and Hong Kong. “We received a lot of support from both the beneficial cargo owners and the freight forwarding community,” Ed Aldridge, U.S. Lines’ president and chief executive officer, told American Shipper. He said that many brand-name customers are already shipping with U.S. Lines.
   Ships operated by U.S. Lines have a capacity of about 1,700 TEUs, less than the intake of most vessels in the transpacific trade. But Aldridge said that it also means that U.S. Lines would like to have “a little bit of business from a lot of customers,” rather than large volume contracts.
   The transpacific service currently has a fortnightly frequency. The carrier plans to go weekly in early February, after chartering two more vessels of about 1,700-TEU capacity.
   The management of the shipping line has bought the name “U.S. Lines,” one of the oldest names in American shipping. The original U.S. Lines stopped trading in 1986.