A total of about 103,500 people took a ferry that regularly sails between Pingtan in Fujian province and Taiwan in 2013, a slight year on year increase, the website affiliated to People's Daily reported on Jan 17, quoting sources from the port administration bureau of Fuzhou city.

The bureau said that Haixia, a high-speed roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry, thus carried the vast majority of Fuzhou Port's passengers to Taiwan last year, which involved a total of 144,400. And ships sailing on the Mawei-Matsu marine route carried 40,900 passengers, a 14.3 percent increase from the previous year.

On Jan 16, the first day of chunyun - which refers to the 40-day Spring Festival travel season - Haixia transported 105 people from Pingtan to Taichung. The ship on the Mawei-Matsu route took 28 passengers to Taiwan and brought 36 to Fuzhou.

Haixia, which was launched in late 2011, has carried more than 200,000 people in the past two years, its owner said earlier this month.

The ferry sails from Pingtan to Taichung on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and to Taipei on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It is also engaged in cargo transportation and international mail delivery.

Haixia will take a break starting on Jan 30, the eve of the Spring Festival, Fujian's traffic authorities said on Jan 15.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Niva Whyman