Pinglu Canal, the backbone project of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, is completed and open to navigation

China News Service, Nanning, September 17 (Reporter Huang Yanmei) On the 16th, as the 5,000-ton cargo ship blew its whistle and set sail, the Pinglu Canal, the backbone project of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, was completed and opened to navigation. This "century project", which carries a century-old wish and took four years to build, has opened up a new sea channel with the shortest, most economical and convenient transportation distance to ASEAN for southwest China, ushering in a historic reshaping of the southwest sea pattern.

A century-old vision becomes a reality

More than a hundred years ago, Dr. Sun Yat-sen drew up a blueprint for connecting the Xijiang River to the Beibu Gulf to the sea in his "Strategy for the Founding of the People's Republic of China", hoping to solve the dilemma of inland access to the sea in the southwest. Entering a new era, the construction of the Pinglu Canal has been included in major national plans, and the long-cherished wish of the country has become a reality step by step.

Construction of the Pinglu Canal started on August 28, 2022, with a total investment of approximately 72.7 billion yuan (the same below) and a total length of 134.2 kilometers. It starts from the mouth of the Pingtang River in Xijin Reservoir Area, Hengzhou City, Nanning in the north, passes through Luwu Town, Lingshan County, Qinzhou in the south, and leads directly to the Beibu Gulf along the Qinjiang River. It is the first river-to-sea canal constructed at the national level since the founding of New China.

The Pinglu Canal is the canal with the highest navigability level in China. It is built according to the inland river Class I standard and can be navigable for 5,000-ton ships. Three major cascade hubs, including Horse Road, Qishi and Youth, have been built across the entire line. The project has created four "best in the world": the world's strongest canal navigation capacity, the world's fastest ship lock navigation speed, the world's highest water-saving lock drop, and the world's largest inland water-saving lock.

The picture shows the scene of the Pinglu Canal navigation ceremony held at the Pinglu Canal Horse Road Hub in Qinzhou, Guangxi. Photo by China News Network reporter Yang Chen

Reshaping Southwest Logistics Pattern

For a long time, the main stream of the Xijiang River has flowed from west to east, with hundreds of thousands of mountains running across it. There is no waterway in Guangxi that directly runs through the Beibu Gulf. Southwest cargo can only "go far away from the nearest" when going to sea, and must go eastward along the Xijiang River to Guangzhou Port.

Nowadays, the Pinglu Canal directly connects the Xijiang shipping trunk line and the Beibu Gulf, turning the southwest water transport channel from "circular" to "straight". The inland navigation distance of goods in the southwest through the canal is shortened by more than 560 kilometers compared with the traditional route.

Ning Ziran, chairman of Guangxi Baise Xijiang Investment and Development Co., Ltd., said that in the past, bulk cargo from Baise took the traditional Xijiang route to sea, which took 12 to 15 days. By taking the Pinglu Canal directly to Beibu Gulf Port, the time can be shortened to 5 to 7 days.

According to estimates, after the Pinglu Canal is opened to navigation, the comprehensive logistics cost of shipping goods to the sea in Southwest China is expected to drop by 18% to 30%, saving the entire society more than 5 billion yuan in transportation costs every year.

On the same day, relying on the major historical opportunity of the opening of the Pinglu Canal, the domestic trade route from Nanning Port to Yangpu Port in Hainan and the foreign trade route from Nanning Port to Can Tho Port in Vietnam were simultaneously opened, realizing direct inland river connections to seaports and inland direct connections to ASEAN. Among them, the Nanning Port-Vietnam Can Tho Port foreign trade route is a key cross-border shipping channel from Nanning to southern ASEAN after the Binh Lok Canal is opened to navigation, achieving seamless connection between the Nanning inland river hub and the core port area of ​​Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

Wei Tao, Chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said that the Pinglu Canal has opened up the shortest, most economical, and most convenient sea channel in Guangxi and southwest China, and has systematically improved the comprehensive transportation capacity of the New Land-Sea Corridor in the West. It will become an important hub connecting the vast hinterland of the southwest, the developed regions in the east, and the potential markets of ASEAN, injecting strong new momentum into the development of the west in the new era and the construction of a new development pattern.

The picture shows the six sceneries operation area of ​​Nanning Port in Guangxi, where vehicles load and unload containers. Photo by Wang Yizhao

Inject new momentum into Haituqiang

A river flows to the sea. Relying on the Pinglu Canal, regions such as Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing and Hunan will be "transformed".

"The opening of the Pinglu Canal is a milestone for Yunnan's opening up to the outside world and industrial development." The relevant person in charge of the Navigation Office of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Transportation said that after the canal is completed, Yunnan's goods can travel from Funing Port via Youjiang River through the Baise Hub, to the Pinglu Canal, and finally to the Beibu Gulf. The whole journey is only about 720 kilometers, making it the most convenient golden waterway for Yunnan to go to sea.

"Reducing logistics costs in the short term, strengthening industries in the medium term, and improving openness levels in the long term, the Pinglu Canal will turn the potential advantages of Guizhou's coastal, border and central cities into reality," said Huang Chaochun, secretary of the Party Committee of the Guizhou Academy of Social Sciences.

For Nanning, the capital of Guangxi, this is a game-changing change. After the Pinglu Canal was opened to navigation, Nanning achieved a historic leap from an inland city to a river-sea hub.

Once the waterway is connected, the port's functions will improve and the urban form and industrial ecology will be reshaped. Nanning City officials stated that the city will expand cooperation with the sea, build four 100-billion-yuan industrial clusters such as new energy, non-ferrous metal deep processing and key metal materials, develop emerging industries and future industries such as biomanufacturing, and build an important advanced manufacturing hub connecting the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and facing ASEAN.

"Facing the future, Guangxi will effectively manage and operate the Pinglu Canal and use it as a fulcrum to leverage the overall opening and development of the region." Wei Tao said.

According to reports, Guangxi will speed up the construction of the Pinglu Canal Economic Belt, accelerate the development of the entire region to the sea, and accelerate opening up to the outside world. Guangxi will create a "leaf-vein" industrial layout to the sea, promote the ten modern pillar industries of non-ferrous metals and key metal materials and other manufacturing industries and optimize the layout of their production and supply chains near ports, along channels, and along canals. At the same time, it will strengthen seaward economic innovation led by artificial intelligence and develop and expand marine industries such as ships and marine engineering equipment. (over)