Horizon Lines, Inc. is adding some 12,500 new ocean containers to its international and domestic shipping network. The move is being taken to support existing customers as well as the carrier's planned Asia liner service, set to launch in December. Brian Taylor, senior vice president of international services, said the line is more than 45-percent subscribed on the first sailing of the new China service. The Five Star Express will make port calls at Shanghai and Ningbo in Central China, and Los Angeles and Oakland in California. It will deploy five Hunter Class vessels with capacity of 2,824 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). The service will offer an 11-day port-to-port transit time from Shanghai to Los Angeles, with Monday-morning cargo availability at the latter. Five of Horizon Lines' vessels currently call ports in China under a space-charter agreement with Maersk Line. That agreement is due to expire on December 10, three days before launching of the Five Star Express.
