A new ferry service which cuts more than 1,500 kilometers from a journey between the cities of Dalian and Yantai and which is designed to carry trains, motor vehicles and passengers is to begin a trial service in August.

 

The ferry service, crossing the Bohai Strait in north China and linking the two port cities in Liaoning Province and Shandong Province, cost more than 3 billion yuan (US$370 million) to build, a local Chinese official explained.

 

Currently trains and vehicles traveling from China's northeast region to the Shandong Peninsula have to go through Shanhaiguan in Hebei Province and then to Tianjin, a journey of 1,779 km.

 

Xu Weiguo, deputy governor of Liaoning Province, said the ferry would be delivered to Dalian in July. Trials are expected to last two months, he said.

 

The ferry will voyage the 170 km across the Bohai Strait shortening the journey from Shandong Peninsula, one of China's economic powerhouses, to the re-developing northeast China by 1,609 km.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2006)