JINAN, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- A new mail shipping route has been launched between Qingdao, a port city in east China's Shandong Province, and the Japanese city of Yokohama, to meet the surging demand from foreign trade and cross-border e-commerce.

The first batch of 232 parcels weighing a total of 4,187 kg was carried to Qingdao's Huangdao Port on Wednesday before heading to Yokohama by ship, marking the inauguration of the service, said a manager from the Shandong branch of China Post.

Located on the Jiaodong Peninsula, Qingdao is close to Japan. The new shipping route has shortened the delivery time by two to four days, compared with mail transfer via Tianjin or Shanghai.

Statistics released by the provincial government show that the total trade between Shandong and Japan hit 113.49 billion yuan (about 16.89 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters of this year, while there has been a huge demand for postal delivery.