A new logistics zone responsible for cross-Straits express delivery by sea went into operation in Taipei, Taiwan on April 30, the Strait Herald reported.

The Taipei Port International Logistics Co in Taiwan became the first company engaged in express deliveries in the Fujian Free Trade Zone (FTZ).

Many Taiwan officials and dignitaries attended the company’s inauguration ceremony.

Express delivery by sea will rise as an emerging industry in Taiwan. And the company is a touchstone for the deepening of cross-Straits trade, said Vincent Siew, honorary chairman of the Cross-Straits Common Market Foundation.

Eric Chu Li-Luan, Taipei’s mayor, made it clear that express delivery by sea is a milestone in Taiwan’s logistics industry and will boost the economy a lot.

The cross-Straits express delivery is based on two high-speed ships that operate betweenPingtan in Fujian and Taiwan. A single trip takes no more than 3 hours and can slash the logistics cost by 40 percent compared with air delivery.

The couriers will only take cargo weighing no more than 70 kg and worth less than 50,000 New Taiwan Dollars.

Sources said that Taiwan will set up a second such logistics zone in Keelung, a port city in southern Taiwan, in July. And six couriers have been approved to tap into the business of cross-Straits delivery. They are expected to handle 25,000 tons of cargo.

Both the mainland and Taiwan have witnessed rapid development in e-commerce. Last year, Taiwan residents spent more than 50 billion yuan on Taobao.com, the leading e-commerce platform in the mainland. Transaction volumes in 2015 are predicted to exceed 10 billion yuan in Taiwan and 180 billion yuan in the mainland.

There is still room for the growth of e-commerce in mainland and Taiwan, said Hong Chengdong, the company’s board chairman, adding that the Fujian province has announced that it will bolster cross-Straits e-commerce, the liberalize cargo flow and simplify the import of Taiwan commodities, which are all good news for the company.