LLOYD TRIESTINO TO ENTER PACIFIC TRADE

LLOYD TRIESTINO TO ENTER PACIFIC TRADE    Trieste-based Lloyd Triestino is planning to enter the Pacific trade by the end of the summer in cooperation with transpacific heavy-weight Evergreen Line.
   Lloyd Triestino, the Italian shipping line owned by Taiwan’s Evergreen group, has filed slot-charter and vessel-sharing agreements with the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission for its future involvement in the transpacific trade.
   The slot-charter pact would allow Lloyd Triestino to charter space on the Asia/U.S. East Coast service operated by Evergreen. The vessel-sharing agreement would permit both carriers to coordinate their vessel operations in the trade between Asia and the U.S. West Coast.
   At present, Lloyd Triestino does not operate any liner service to and from the U.S. and is largely unknown in North America.
   A spokesman for Lloyd Triestino at its headquarters in Trieste said that the plan to enter the Pacific trade has not been finalized.
   However, the Italian carrier recently set up a regional office in the U.S. and the filing of its agreements with the FMC indicates that it may start transpacific services at the end of July.
   If Lloyd Triestino follows through with the plan, it will be the second carrier to enter the highly profitable transpacific trade this year. Wan Hai, of Taiwan, entered the trade in May.