FUZHOU, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- East China's Fujian Province on Sunday launched its first "Polar Silk Road" shipping route to Europe.

A container ship, Istanbul Bridge, departed from the Jiangyin Port Area of Fuzhou Port on Sunday morning and was expected to reach Europe in only 19 days via the Arctic route.

The new route will connect major Chinese ports, including Qingdao, Dalian, Shanghai and Ningbo, with key European ports such as Felixstowe in Britain, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Hamburg in Germany, and Gdansk in Poland, according to Fuzhou Customs.

The route offers exporters in Fujian and neighboring provinces a faster and more efficient channel for shipping goods such as building materials, textiles and electromechanical products to European markets.

The service is about a week faster than the China-Europe rail service and more than 20 days faster than traditional routes through the Suez Canal or around the Cape of Good Hope, said Xiao Bin, a business manager of China Ocean Shipping Agency Fuzhou Co., Ltd.

The launch of the route increases ship schedules and provides companies with more options for cargo transport to Europe, said Xiao. The inaugural voyage coincides with Europe's peak pre-Christmas stocking season, allowing exporters to seize the market earlier while avoiding congestion in the peak shipping season, Xiao added.