More ships to serve cross-Straits travel

Fujian province, the closest place on the mainland to Taiwan, will open the first night sea route and allow more passenger ships to link cities in mainland and Taiwan, a senior official said on Sunday.

Ma Jilie, vice-director with Fujian Provincial Communications Department, said at a news conference in Fuzhou that a night voyage will be launched on June 17 to connect Fujian's Xiamen and Taiwan's Kinmen as a new move to strengthen the "mini three links".

The mechanism, set up in 2001, allows direct ferry services between the coastal cities in Fujian province and Taiwan's offshore islands — Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu.

The new ferry service will travel in both directions between the ports in Xiamen and Kinmen at 19:00 each day. The route would postpone the last departure time of the current ferry service by two hours, which can help the two cities on the mainland and Taiwan to realize a "one-day living circle", Ma said.

Currently, there are 36 scheduled ferry services linking Xiamen and Kinmen. Statistics show that people from the mainland and Taiwan have made more than 1.38 million trips to travel across the Straits through the sea link in 2011, with nearly 4,000 travelers taking the ferry service a day on average.

Moreover, a high-speed passenger ship that connects Pingtan Island near the capital city Fuzhou and Taiwan will make four round-trips every week instead of the current three starting from next month in order to transport more passengers by sea.

Ma also told reporters that the transportation authority is making efforts to allow vehicles from Taiwan to drive on the mainland with a special license.

"The province will try to adopt a special policy this year to give temporary licenses to vehicles from Taiwan with a valid period of three months," he said.

Authorities from the mainland, according to Ma, will try to get permission from Taiwan transportation authorities to allow car trips to the three major offshore islands — Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu — and then the main island.