Pinglu Canal opens up the shortest, most economical and most convenient water transportation channel to the ASEAN region
The transportation pattern is reshaped, and the southwest region presses the accelerator button to the sea map
Reporter Pang Huimin
On September 16, Guangxi Pinglu Canal was opened to navigation. At the site of the opening ceremony, Qinzhou Port has vast sea and sky, the horse road hub stands majestically, and the 39.08-meter-high giant herringbone gate is like a steel giant stretching its arms, opening the door to the era of strengthening the sea.
The Pinglu Canal is 134.2 kilometers long, starting from the mouth of the Pingtang River in Hengzhou City, Nanning in the north, and going south along the Qinjiang River into the Beibu Gulf. It is my country's first large-scale canal connecting the river and the sea that has been coordinated and constructed at the national level since the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is also the backbone project of the New Land-Sea Corridor in the West. Its navigation directly opens up the shortest, most economical and most convenient water transportation channel from Guangxi and southwest my country to the ASEAN region.
"Smart hub" empowers shipping
Entering the Pinglu Canal Command and Dispatch Center, you are greeted by a sense of technology. Dozens of display screens show different areas of the entire canal, with beating data showing real-time conditions on site, and dynamic pictures of locks, channels, ships, etc. are presented in sequence.
"We have deployed more than 20,000 sets of various sensing devices on the Pinglu Canal to monitor the 134.2-kilometer canal at all times." Wang Yulong, deputy director of the Science and Technology Information Department of Pinglu Canal Group, said that as the "intelligent brain" of the canal, the Pinglu Canal Command and Dispatch Center undertakes core functions such as full-line navigation dispatch, emergency command, data management, and collaborative linkage.
On the large screen in the center, the six characters "Digital Twin Platform" are eye-catching. The staff clicked the mouse in the dispatch center, and a giant gate dozens of kilometers away opened in response. This is the daily system control of the Pinglu Canal.
Wang Yulong introduced that the Pinglu Canal’s digital twin platform accurately replicates the canal 1:1 and can remotely control the ship locks at the three hubs of Madao, Qishi and Qingnian. This is my country’s first full-life-cycle smart canal digital twin platform. At present, it has completed the access and presentation of more than 100 million pieces of construction-period data in 20 information systems during the construction period of the Pinglu Canal project, achieving "one-screen control" of canal construction, "one-network perception" of smart construction sites, "accurate early warning" of hydrological ecology, "one-brain intelligent control" of canal safety, and "one-click direct connection" for emergency command. The system has now become an important guarantee for reducing costs and improving quality and efficiency of transportation logistics, and will further promote the high-level demonstration application of digital information technology in water transportation projects.
Reshaping the southwest transportation pattern
On the day when the Pinglu Canal was opened to navigation, four water passenger routes were opened simultaneously. The "Nanning-Can Tho, Vietnam" foreign trade route and the "Nanning-Hainan Yangpu" domestic trade route started sailing in both directions. 14 cargo ships loaded with sugar, building materials, minerals, steel and other materials successfully passed through the lock and made their maiden voyage. 16 ships carrying coal, iron ore, bauxite, fertilizer, high calcium stone and other goods sailed into the Xijiang River Basin in an orderly manner.
The opening of the canal completely ended the history of Guangxi being close to the sea but without rivers leading to the sea. In the past, due to the lack of direct access to the sea in Guangxi, a large number of goods originally belonging to Guangxi and even the southwest region were shipped from Guangdong. The Pinglu Canal runs directly along the Qinjiang River into the Beibu Gulf, directly shortening the distance to the sea by 560 kilometers, and 5,000-ton ships can directly reach the Beibu Gulf seaport.
Being 560 kilometers closer to the sea is not only a change in distance, but also a reshaping of the southwest transportation pattern.
"Now it only takes two days for goods to arrive directly at Qinzhou Port from Nanning, and can be transferred to major ports in the north of the country and directly to ASEAN countries. Compared with the past, our comprehensive logistics cost per ton has dropped by 6 yuan to 8 yuan, and the transportation time has been greatly improved." Wang Na, general manager of Guangxi Zhongshi Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd., said that for enterprises, the Pinglu Canal has changed the transportation pattern and can greatly enhance their market competitiveness. "The cost of shipping goods to the sea through the Pinglu Canal is expected to be reduced by 18%." said Wei Qingfu, delivery manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling Logistics.
Lv Yingying, director of the Water Transport Department of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Department of Transportation, said that the Pinglu Canal is a strategic project that organically connects the “One Belt, One Road” initiative and serves to build a new development pattern, and promotes Guangxi and southwest regions to better develop and strengthen toward the sea. According to reports, after the opening of the canal, goods from the southwest region can be transported to the sea through the Pinglu Canal, which can save transportation costs along the line by more than 5 billion yuan every year.
There are new options for transporting goods across rivers and seas
On the day the Pinglu Canal was opened to navigation, the first batch of "rail-river-sea" intermodal transport goods from Sichuan, Chongqing, Guangxi and other regions set sail from the Liujing Operation Area of Nanning Port, Guangxi, marking the addition of a new "rail-river-sea" intermodal transport channel in the southwest region, providing a new logistics option for inland hinterland goods to be transported to the river and the sea "in one box."
As the core rail-water intermodal transport hub of the Pinglu Canal, the Liujing Railway Freight Yard is a key transfer node for the southwest inland to connect the river to the sea. On September 5, the first Pinglu Canal "Iron-Jiang-Sea" intermodal train departed from the Liuzhou South Railway Freight Yard in Guangxi, fully loaded with 10 containers "Made in Liuzhou" and about 320 tons of special cement. It arrived at Liujing after running for about 5 hours. On the day the canal was opened to navigation, this batch of cement was sent to Hainan Yangpu Port as the first batch of intermodal transport cargo.
In the past, cement produced in Liuzhou was mainly transported to Beibu Gulf Port by rail or road, and was picked up and shipped to the sea by customers. China Railway Nanning Bureau Group Co., Ltd. has customized the "Iron-River-Sea" intermodal transportation plan for enterprises based on the transportation characteristics of bulk cement cargo, promoting the Liuzhou area's cement to go to sea through the Pinglu Canal. This "iron-river-sea" intermodal transportation model further reduces the company's entire logistics costs and improves the competitiveness of local enterprises in Guangxi to expand the market.
At present, Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places have launched the first "river-rail-sea" intermodal trains directly to ASEAN, and a canal is connecting more regions and markets. In the future, the Pinglu Canal will also open up a new space for cooperation between China and ASEAN in emerging fields such as digital economy and green and smart shipping.
