The first transport ferry in north China's Bohai Sea completed its maiden test voyage Monday between the cities of Dalian and Yantai.

It took the ferry "Sinorail Bohai No.1" about 10 hours to sail 159.8 km to cross the Bohai Strait linking the provinces of Liaoning in the northeast and Shandong in the east.

The new ferry service, which will begin trial operations next month, cuts the trip from Yantai to Dalian by 1,800 km. It is expected to help rejuvenate China's aging industrial area in the northeast.

The ferry can carry a 50-car freight train, 50 20-ton trucks, 25 cars and 480 passengers, said Yi Binhua, chief engineer of the builder, the Yantai-headquartered Sinorail Bohai Train Ferry Co., Ltd.

The ferry cost nearly 3 billion yuan(about 375 million U.S.dollars) and took 20 months to complete, he said.

It is the second ferry service in China and the longest. The first transport ferry sails in Qiongzhou Straits in South China, connecting Haikou on Hainan Island with Hai'an in Guangdong Province.

Source: Xinhua