Denmark's Maersk Line, the world's largest container shipping company, officially launched its connected carrier agreement service at the Huai'an Port in Jiangsu province on Thursday. It is the first time the company has opened the service on China's inland waterways.

The service enables foreign trade enterprises in and around Huai'an to use Maersk Line's containers for customs clearance and shipment at the port and then transport their goods to ports around the world via Maersk Line's global shipping network.

Chen Xin, general manager for Maersk Line Greater China's multi-modal transport products, said the service was rolled out in accordance with a strategic cooperation agreement signed between Maersk Line, Shanghai International Port Group, and the Huai'an Port in the first half of this year, to meet the logistics needs of local customers.

Zhuang Dejun, general manager of Huai'an Traffic Holding Group, said the partnership between the Huai'an Port and Maersk Line is crucial for the city's efforts to become a national inland waterway shipping center, develop a modern water transportation system, and create a top-level business environment.

"Through extensive and in-depth cooperation with world-renowned ports and shipping companies, Huai'an Port has achieved leapfrog development in recent years," he said.

Statistics from the local government show that the port's container throughput reached 312,500 TEUs in the first seven months of the year, of which 60,800 were foreign trade containers. These two figures increased 10.04 percent and 105.06 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Guo Jun contributed to this story.