A significant milestone was reached on June 3rd for the construction of the Pinglu Canal in Guangxi. The Madao and Qishi hubs of the canal began water filling, marking the complete water filling of this major canal, the first since the founding of the People's Republic of China to connect inland rivers with the sea. This paves the way for its official navigation, scheduled for September.
In Pingtang Village, Xinfu Town, Hengzhou City, which sits at the starting point of the canal, villager Lei Yubao is showing visitors around the village's history exhibition he established after retiring last November. He converted a room in his house into a "Jiangkou Historical and Cultural Exhibition Hall," expressing confidence that the canal's starting point will attract tourists.
Hu Haoji, Deputy General Manager of Nanning Port Development and Investment Co., Ltd., highlighted the economic benefits. Once operational, the canal is expected to reduce comprehensive logistics costs for local Nanning enterprises by 30% to 40% when shipping goods overseas. For instance, transporting bauxite could save over 30 yuan per ton, and the cost for converting bulk grain to containerized shipments could drop by about 20%.
This cost advantage is fostering industrial clustering. The Nanning Liujing Industrial Park has already attracted over 50 port-side enterprises, including Sun Paper and BYD, forming an initial "port-front, factory-rear" operational model.
The canal's opening will significantly shorten the distance between the non-coastal Liujing operation area of Nanning Port and ASEAN markets. It is reported that the BYD project in Nanning currently imports several hundred thousand tons of spodumene annually. If all this cargo were rerouted via the Pinglu Canal from Qinzhou Port, transport cost savings alone could exceed 10 million yuan per year.
Huang Zhancai, General Manager of Guangxi Jisheng Paper Products Co., Ltd. located in the Liujing park, stated that upon the canal's opening, the company will use it to transport both imported raw materials and exported products.
Nanning Port is poised to become a key logistics hub in Southwest China. Hu Haoji noted that bulk cargo from companies like Conch Cement and Sun Paper will be among the first to switch their logistics routes. A dedicated railway line for the Liujing operation area is set to connect to the national rail network this year, enabling seamless "ship-to-rail" and "station-to-port" transfers and opening logistics channels to inland regions like Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan.
Lei Xiaohua, Deputy Director of the Southeast Asia Institute at the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, emphasized the canal's strategic impact. As a 134.2-kilometer Class I waterway, the Pinglu Canal shortens the sea access route from Southwest China by approximately 560 kilometers, fundamentally reshaping the economic and trade landscape between Southwest China and ASEAN nations.
"ASEAN countries, especially those in the Indochina Peninsula like Vietnam, are paying close attention to the canal's construction," Lei Xiaohua stated. He views the canal as a new engine for deeper integration of industrial chains between China and ASEAN. "ASEAN's raw materials can enter the Chinese hinterland via the Beibu Gulf at lower costs, while Chinese aluminum products and building materials can be distributed more efficiently across Southeast Asia. Against the backdrop of deepening China-Vietnam industrial chain integration, the low-cost, high-volume transport channel provided by the canal is expected to foster new models of cross-border production capacity cooperation."
Hu Haoji added that Nanning Port plans to integrate road, rail, and water multimodal transport, offering customized "door-to-port" supply chain solutions for clients like BYD and Sun Paper, with a focus on promoting the multimodal transport of containerized grain.
Lei Xiaohua concluded that the Pinglu Canal brings a transformation in the logistics framework, promoting a more balanced development between east-west and north-south water transport logistics in China. This logistics shift will drive new industrial layouts and spur the growth of novel service industries, directly benefiting local communities.
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