<p>Nascent trans-Pacific container shipping operator, US Lines (USL), has named the people to head the line’s expansion into the Australian marketplace when it launches its new ANZL service next month between the US, Australia/New Zealand and Hong Kong/South China.</p> <p>Rolf Rasmussen as director, sales and marketing, and Adrian Butler as commercial manager will jointly head the team in Australia.</p> <p>Mr Rasmussen said that Sheila Beard was to be USL’s New South Wales sales manager, working with Fiona Doncovski as NSW account executive, and Russ Smith would be Queensland sales manager.</p> <p>The Victorian team comprises Perry Steel as state sales manager, working with Greg Lloyd as account executive, Captain Glenn Santos as operations manager and Juliana Ward as state sales/customer service coordinator.</p> <p>Mr Rasmussen said the new structure would give USL a strong base in NSW, Victoria and Queensland, with which to launch the new ANZL service.</p> <p>US Lines is to make Tauranga its New Zealand hub for its new ANZL triangular service from Los Angeles to Australia, and then back to the US west coast via Hong Kong.</p> <p>USL’s director of sales in New Zealand, Craig Stapleton, said that Tauranga was well positioned for import flows into south Auckland, and export flows from the Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions. </p> <p>The port has an express rail shuttle service into its Auckland Metroport, which Mr Stapleton said was a less congested option for truckers and offers onward rail connections to the south.</p> <p>USL has a fixed berth on Friday mornings, allowing for import receivals early the following week, with a Thursday cut-off for export sailings to Australia, Asia, and the US.</p> <p>The service will initially be fortnightly, but is expected to upgrade to weekly.</p> <br />
