Pacific International Lines has announced it is expanding its China Transpacific Service string to include ports in Australia and New Zealand on its westbound leg.

The weekly service will deploy nine ships of about 1,550-TEU nominal capacity each, the company said. U.S. exporters could start loading container shipments to Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane) and New Zealand (Tauranga) from the Port of Long Beach's Total Terminals International terminal as early as June 21.

The new China Transpacific Service ('CTP') rotation will serve the ports of Qingdao ' Ningbo ' Shanghai ' Long Beach ' Sydney ' Melbourne ' Tauranga ' Brisbane ' Keelung ' Qingdao. The current CTP rotation is Xiamen ' Hong Kong ' Shekou ' Ningbo ' Shanghai ' Long Beach ' Vancouver ' Xiamen.