China's Jiangsu Port Group launched a container line to Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday.

The new route begins at Nanjing, the capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, and stops at Taicang City and Vietnam's Haiphong before arriving in Ho Chi Minh City.

The new line was launched to meet the rising trade demand between Nanjing and its surrounding cities and Southeast Asia after the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership came into effect.

Operated weekly, a one-way trip on the route takes about seven days. The group said the new service would help solve the problem of insufficient space for direct trade from Nanjing to Vietnam, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries.