Workers load heavy cargo onto a cargo liner at a heavy goods wharf owned by Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group in Binhai New Area of Tianjin, Nov 25. [Photo/Shanxi Daily]

China's first specialist cargo liner service for heavy items was recently launched -- as a vessel loaded with equipment from Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group, based in Shanxi province, set sail from a wharf in Tianjin city's Binhai New Area on Nov 25. 

Heavy-duty liners are an innovation in the transportation of traditional large-scale cargo. The heavy-duty water transport network is supported by large-scale wharfs and large-scale road transport companies in each port along regular routes. 

In the past, a shipper had to negotiate for the chartering and booking of a terminal for the delivery of large pieces, and the logistics costs could be as much as the cost of chartering the entire ship. 

Now the newly launched cargo service means that with a large passenger or cargo ship – which sails on a regular route and time -- the shipper only needs to place an order online to book the shipping space on liners, saving nearly half the logistics cost. In addition, the shipper can track cargo information throughout the voyage. 

Currently, the cargo liner service includes 15 barges weighing 1,500-5,000 metric tons mainly traveling from Yingkou Port in Yingkou, in Northeast China's Liaoning province -- via Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group wharf in Binhai New Area of Tianjin -- to ports in Zhangjiagang, in East China's Jiangsu province and Shanghai, as well as those traveling to ports in East China's Fujian province and South China's Guangdong province. 

It is scheduled to operate a sailing every 10 days, but there will be a weekly voyage later according to the number of cargoes.

Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group said it will continue to develop intelligent transportation software with docks and shipping companies. 

The company said it will further integrate new technologies with the transportation industry and establish a complete heavy-duty transportation internet of things platform.

This will offer online shipping space booking, plan customization, port coordination and have visual tracking functions, according to the director of TZ (Tianjin) Binhai Heavy Machinery Co.