The China Shipping Group opened its first cross-Pacific container shipping line on November 18, which is the third major ocean route launched this year.

The new route will involve six container ships capable of carrying 2,000 to 2,500 containers each. The new route will make the weekly cross-Pacific voyage, linking the ports of Xiamen, Hong Kong, Kobe, Los Angeles and Seattle.

An official said the business in North America will be in the charge of a shipping agency founded by the Chinese Shipping Group and Nortonlilly Co.

The container ship making its inaugural voyage will carry 2, 400 containers.

As one of China's largest ocean shipping enterprises, the China Shipping Group founded a subsidiary container shipping company in 1997, which now owns nearly 70 container ships and covers major ports of China and the Far East.