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

The ferry service, which will cross the Bohai strait in north China and link 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 announced.

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 first ferry will be delivered to Dalian in July.

The trial operations are expected to last two months, said the deputy governor.

The ferry will travel 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)