BERLIN, May 12 (Reuters) - German shipping company

Hapag-Lloyd ( HLAGF ) on Monday welcomed an agreement between

the United States and China to temporarily slash reciprocal

tariffs, saying that it expected to be buoyed by a resulting

increase in bookings from China to the U.S.

"We expect bookings from China to the U.S. to increase,

which should help us ... into peak season," the company said in

response to an emailed request for comment from Reuters.

"Originally, we had planned to use smaller ships for

transports from China to (the U.S. coasts) but may reverse that

if demand is strong," it added.