Four shipping lines will jointly operate a new service between Tianjin Port, the largest port in Northern China and the main maritime gateway to Beijing, to several stops in Southeast Asia.

The new service will be operated by Cosco Shipping, Gold Star Line, OOCL, and Regional Container Lines — deploying seven 8,500 to 9,500 TEU container vessels per week. 

The new service will depart from Tianjin Port and will berth at other major Asian ports like Shanghai, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Singapore and Port Kelang in Malaysia.

China wants to promote Tianjin Port as an international shipping hub and the port aims to achieve 560 million tonnes cargo throughput and 22 million TEUs container throughput by 2025. The gateway is also aiming to be a green and intelligent port.

The new service between the port and Southeast Asia is expected to further expand the gateway's international links.

In the first seven months of the year, Tianjin Port reported 10.287 million TEUs container volume and 251 million tonnes cargo throughput, recording a 4% increase year-on-year. 

In September alone, the recorded 1.76 million TEUs of container volume or a rise of 7.6% compared to last year.