The first direct container shipping line linking the Yangtze River basin and Southeast Asia opened on Thursday. The regular service will be operated once a week by Taicang Container Lines. The container ship operates from Taicang Port in east China's Jiangsu province, and will travel as far as Laem Chabang and Bangkok, Thailand, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The line is expected to help import and export companies along the Yangtze River and the Yangtze River Delta and save about 50 million yuan ($7.6 million) a year in logistics costs.