(Yicai Global) Sept. 28 -- Hainan Free Trade Port launched its first intercontinental shipping route today, linking the island province to several nations in the South Pacific including Australia and paving the way for Hainan to become an international cargo terminal, according to local news outlet Hinews.cn.

Run by shipping giant China COSCO Shipping Corp, the route serves Hong Kong, Cebu in the Philippines, Lae and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea as well as Townsville and Darwin in Australia.

Beijing-based COSCO Shipping will bring in coconuts, logs, beef, minerals and consumer goods on two 1,400-Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit container ships on this route every two weeks.

Through its co-operation with COSCO Shipping, foreign trade routes from Hainan's Xiaochantan Terminal have already been extended to a number of countries on the Asian continent including Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Container throughput at the port was up 66 percent in the first eight months from the same period last year, despite the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, to 497,000 TEU.

The transformation of China’s southernmost province into the country's biggest free trade zone got underway on June 1 with the unveiling of the country's master plan. It is expected to be in full operation by 2025.

Editor: Kim Taylor