DALIAN, Jan. 3 -- A container ship, named "WAN HAI 357," arrived at the Dalian port in northeast China's Liaoning Province on Tuesday, marking a regular container ship route linking the port and the west coast of South America has been launched.

The ship loaded with 3,000 twenty-foot-equivalent unit (TEU) containers of goods, such as bananas and white prawns, left the Guayaquil port in Ecuador on Dec. 28.

The route links the Dalian port with ports in Colombia and Ecuador as well as other major ports on the west coast of South America. The entire journey now takes only 25 days, saving at least seven days compared to the previous transportation mode via transit shipment service. This will expedite the entry of cold chain goods, such as seafood and fruits, from South America into the northeast China market.

The new route is operated once a week by WAN HAI LINES Ltd., a Taiwan company, with six 3,000-TEU container ships.

According to Li Xiaoguang, general manager of Dalian Container Terminal Co., Ltd. of Liaoning Port Group, which is in charge of Dalian port, there are currently 105 container ship routes from Dalian port, reaching more than 300 ports in over 160 countries and regions around the world.