China News Service, Haikou, September 13 (Reporter Wang Ziqian) As the backbone project of the New Land-Sea Corridor in Western China, the Pinglu Canal will be completed and opened to navigation on September 16. Experts believe that it is expected to add new impetus to the economic and trade exchanges between Hainan Free Trade Port and ASEAN.
After the customs closure, the Hainan Free Trade Port has open policies such as "zero tariffs" and tariff-free processing value-added, and has outstanding advantages in connecting ASEAN cross-border trade. However, as an island economy, Hainan Free Trade Port needs a larger economic hinterland to further release policy effectiveness.
"The Pinglu Canal reshapes the logistics pattern of the New Land-Sea Corridor in the West and will bring major development opportunities to the Hainan Free Trade Port." Pei Guangyi, director of the National Economic Geography Research Society and professor at Hainan Normal University, said in a recent interview with a reporter from China News Service that the Pinglu Canal has significantly expanded the scale of regional cargo flow, and combined with the institutional advantages of the Hainan Free Trade Port, will form a superimposed effect of "physical channel + policy dividend".
Pei Guangyi believes that this effect will further highlight Hainan's role as an open hub between China and ASEAN: Southwest goods are transferred to Yangpu Port through the Pinglu Canal for export to ASEAN, and corporate capital withdrawals can be accelerated by relying on the tax rebate policy at the port of departure; ASEAN goods, after bonded processing in Yangpu, are reversely imported into the southwest inland via the canal, reducing distribution and logistics costs.
At present, the linkage between Yangpu Port and Beibu Gulf Port, the outlet of Pinglu Canal, has achieved remarkable results. Official data shows that the two ports have opened more than ten container routes, and the number of containers between the two ports will reach 353,000 TEUs in 2025; they have implemented cooperation on the same ship for domestic and foreign trade, and direct supply of bonded oil across customs areas, realizing cross-regional linkage between maritime affairs and customs, and effectively reducing shipping costs.
"After the opening of the Pinglu Canal, the freight volume between the Beibu Gulf region and ASEAN ports will increase significantly, and the bonded oil bunkering volume is expected to usher in a new growth point." Li Guanjie, deputy general manager of the Bonded Business Department of Sinopec China Shipping Fuel Supply Co., Ltd., said that the company is accelerating to improve its ability to guarantee the direct supply of bonded oil across customs areas from Hainan to Guangxi.
In April this year, Hainan and Guangxi signed an agreement, proposing to build a "Yangpu Port-Beibu Gulf Port-Pinglu Canal" logistics channel and work together to create a frontier for opening up and cooperation facing ASEAN.
Industry insiders pointed out that facing the future, Yangpu Port and Beibu Gulf Port must accelerate their staggered development. Beibu Gulf Port focuses on river-sea transshipment of bulk cargo in the southwest and expands the scale of basic logistics; Yangpu Port relies on the advantages of a free trade port and focuses on modern service industries such as international container consolidation, bonded high-end processing, and ship financing leasing. The two ports complement each other to form a new trade pattern for ASEAN.
In Yangpu, the Tianyou Asphalt Project is currently the largest professional asphalt storage and processing base in Hainan, carrying out bonded asphalt storage business. Zhao Bo, assistant general manager of Yangpu Tianyou Asphalt Development Co., Ltd., said that the canal brings logistics convenience. "Companies can further improve Yangpu's distribution function, import high-quality asphalt from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other places for bonded warehousing and on-demand distribution, and efficiently connect with the southwest China market."
After the completion of the Pinglu Canal, Hainan will be more closely connected with China's southwest hinterland, and China and ASEAN will also open up new space for regional economic and trade cooperation. Zhang Huawei, executive deputy mayor of Danzhou City, said that Yangpu will innovate the "free trade port transfer" system, deepen the reform of the "China Yangpu Port" shipping port, and work with provinces along the Western Land-Sea Corridor to provide high-quality services and jointly build the "Belt and Road".
