COSCO Shipping Lines Co Ltd launches a new container shipping route between Zhanjiang and Taicang on June 22. [Photo by Lu Pengfei/zjport.com]

A new container shipping route between Zhanjiang and Taicang, Jiangsu province, was officially launched on June 22.

Its operator, COSCO Shipping Lines Co Ltd, will have two vessels commuting between the two cities. Every six days, one of them will leave Zhanjiang for Taicang, with the entire journey taking five days. The return trip to Zhanjiang will stop over in Haikou, Hainan province.

The shipping route utilizes Taicang Port as a transhipment hub for containers destined for ports in Wuhan, Yichang, Chongqing and Luzhou, or inland cities such as Chengdu and Xi'an via the Yangtze River.

Its opening not only will promote the rapid flow of logistics between western Guangdong, the Yangtze River Delta and inland cities in West China, but also will consolidate the status of Zhanjiang Port as the major hub in the Beibu Gulf.

As of today, 40 container shipping routes have been opened at Zhanjiang port, of which 25 are domestic and 15 are international.