China News Service, Qinzhou, Guangxi, October 14th (Reporters Yang Chengchen and Zhai Liqiang) On September 16, 2026, the Pinglu Canal, the first national-level canal to connect rivers and seas under overall planning and construction since the founding of New China, was completed and opened to navigation.
With the full moon opening to navigation approaching, the "Vibrant China Research Tour" interview team's itinerary ran through the same main line: this 134.2-kilometer Century Canal is pushing Guangxi from the end of the inland river to the river-sea intermodal transport hub connecting Southwest and ASEAN, and economic dividends are seeping from the "channel" into the "industry."
The logistics ledger was the first to be rewritten. According to reports, goods in the southwest region go to sea through the Pinglu Canal, which shortens the inland voyage by more than 560 kilometers compared with traditional routes, and the comprehensive logistics cost is expected to be reduced by 18% to 30%. Nanning Port has been upgraded from a traditional inland river port to an important hub for river-sea intermodal transport. The Hengzhou Liujing Operation Area has become a key transit node for southwest goods going to sea. Special railway lines have been stepped up to build, and 5,000-ton ships can berth on a regular basis.
The person in charge of Nanning Port Development and Investment Co., Ltd. said that bulk cargoes such as coal, mineral products, and industrial raw materials are accelerating to gather in the canal. Foreign trade goods do not need to be changed multiple times, and the transportation cycle is greatly shortened.
"Channel economy" is growing into "industrial economy". Liujing Industrial Park has gathered port-facing enterprises such as BYD and Sun Paper; Qinshi Group has physically gathered shipbuilding, shipping, ports, and trade in Liujing. The new energy ship intelligent manufacturing base has been successfully implemented based on the canal navigation dividends. In the future, it will also export standard ship types, charging and swapping solutions, and smart shipping systems to ASEAN.
More than 40 million cubic meters of earth and stone were excavated at the Madao hub, and the slope of the largest waterway in the country reached 188 meters... Behind the Pinglu Canal's creation of four "best in the world" (the strongest navigation capacity of similar canals in the world, the fastest speed of similar ship locks in the world, the highest height of water-saving ship locks in the world, and the largest scale of water-saving ship locks on inland rivers in the world) is the hard support for the backbone project of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor.
The "wisdom" and "goodwill" of the canal are launched simultaneously. In the Youth Hub Dispatching Center, more than 20,000 sets of sensing equipment hold up the digital twin platform. Each ship has one gear, AI assists in crossing the gate, and the WeChat applet declares the full line traffic plan at once, allowing ships to "go smoothly and fast." The Youth Hub 480-meter composite fishway of vertical seam fishway and eel channel is equipped with underwater guidance lights and AI fish recognition. Since it was put into use in 2025, 83,400 fish have ascended and 122,200 have descended. More than 10 species of fish have successfully migrated. "Building canals so that fish can go home" has become an ecological footnote.
Cultural tourism research turns engineering into a "living classroom." The Pinglu Canal has built a system of "cruise sightseeing + hub visit + education and science popularization + study and practice". It is reported that from September 17 to October 11, the cruise ship operated 243 times and received 28,900 people; before the opening of navigation, it had received 4,700 students. Thai students and the "Guangxi Xiaosu Tangju" research group visited successively. More than 960 teachers and students of Yulin New Century Middle School introduced the principles of ship locks and ecological corridors into real-life classrooms.
The China-ASEAN Commodities Center also has an open account: 18 country pavilions, more than 6,000 products, and about 300 events, extending the CAEXPO from 4 to 5 days to "365 days without ending", which is both inside and outside the new river-sea channel of the Pinglu Canal.
In the past month, what the Pinglu Canal has handed out is not a “certificate of navigation” but a set of cards: cost reduction, production concentration, smart governance, fish protection, research, and connectivity to ASEAN.
Economic dividends have allowed Guangxi to further consolidate its territory of "Strengthening to the Sea". Xianghai not only sails out ships, but also places industries, ports, trade, research and digital dispatch on the seaside. The Pinglu Canal is about to be opened to navigation. Guangxi has moved from the "terminal of inland rivers" in the past to a river-sea intermodal transport hub. Ship shuttles, industrial agglomeration, and port upgrades are becoming a daily scene. (over)
