The four nations signed an agreement on setting up the 800-nautical-mile (1,480-kilometre) route Thursday in the northeast Chinese city of Changchun, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The service will run from Huichun, a key Chinese port on the Sea of Japan, to Niigata in Japan and then on to the Russian port of Zarubino and the South Korean port of Sokcho, according to the agency.

"The move is in the interest of the four sides and can promote trade and tourism in Northeast Asia," Yu Guozheng, an economist with Changchun-based Northeast Normal University, told Xinhua.

The route will cut the travel time for cargo from northeast China's Jilin province to Japan. Until now cargo has had to be taken hundreds of kilometres (miles) by truck before being loaded onto ships.

The route will be able to handle 15,000-tonne cargo vessels and passenger ships carrying as many as 500 people, according to Xinhua.

It will be operated by a joint venture to be located in South Korea, the agency said.

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