	united states lines lays off far east staff united states lines inc has laid off employees almost its entire far east staff its hong kong office general manager elliott burnside told reuters he also said calls by two of its container s to busan south korea and kaohsiung taiwan had been cancelled he declined comment on local press reports that u s lines planned to suspend operations because of failure to restructure its billion u s dlr debt but said the firm would make an announcement later today u s lines filed for protection from its creditors under chapter eleven of the u s federal law last november the english language south china morning post said u s lines decided yesterday to sell its two remaining transpacific service fleets and assets and those of its u s south america operation it quoted a letter by company s chief executive charles hiltzheimer that said the s and assets will be bought by rival u s ping companies subject to approval by their boards u s lines far east operations comprise offices in hong kong singapore manila busan seoul tokyo yokohama kobe and osaka burnside said reuter 
