China News Service, Nanning, September 16 (Reporter Huang Yanmei) The Pinglu Canal, the backbone project of the New Land-Sea Corridor in Western China, was completed and opened to navigation on the 16th. This 134.2-kilometer-long water artery runs through the Xijiang shipping trunk line and the Beibu Gulf, closely connecting China's southwest hinterland with the ASEAN market through the shortest water transport route.
The Pinglu Canal is the first river-to-sea canal constructed under overall planning at the national level since the founding of the People's Republic of China. It starts from the mouth of the Pingtang River in Xijin Reservoir District, Hengzhou City, Nanning in the north, passes through Luwu Town, Lingshan County, Qinzhou in the south, and runs directly along the Qinjiang River to the Beibu Gulf, turning China's southwest water transport channel from "circular" to "straight".
From Dr. Sun Yat-sen's vision in the "National Founding Strategy" more than a hundred years ago to the realization of the "Project of the Century" dream today, the Pinglu Canal has not only rewritten the geographical logic of western China's access to the sea, but also established an efficient and economical new channel for economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN.
Liuqi's products sailed out to sea as cargo on the first voyage that day. "After the opening of the Pinglu Canal river-sea intermodal transport, the voyage of southwest goods to the sea has been shortened by more than 560 kilometers, which is directly beneficial to the overall competitiveness of our export business." Xie Jiasheng, deputy general manager of the import and export company of Dongfeng Liuzhou Automobile Co., Ltd., said that the company will normalize the Pinglu Canal into the overall export logistics system, allowing more "Guangxi Intelligent Manufacturing" to go to the world.
Yang Fanglai, chairman of Hunan Huaihua International Dry Port Development Co., Ltd., said that after the Pinglu Canal is opened to navigation, the comprehensive logistics cost of bulk cargo is expected to drop by 18% to 30%, and the unit transportation cost of containers will decrease by 18% to 22%. "The opening of the Pinglu Canal is a major opportunity for Huaihua International Dry Port to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and it is also a key opportunity to reshape the logistics pattern."
A canal is connecting more areas and markets. Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places in China are connected to the canal through rail-water combined transport, and many places have launched river-rail-sea combined transport trains directly to ASEAN.
The China-Laos railway is linked to the Pinglu Canal, and landlocked countries such as Laos can also "borrow the river to the sea." Envoys from many ASEAN countries stationed in China have recently inspected the Pinglu Canal intensively and expressed their expectations for expanding trade.
The canal also brings a "magnetic attraction effect". The French Essen Group is building a papermaking chemicals project in Liujing Industrial Park, Nanning City, about 50 kilometers away from the starting point of the Pinglu Canal, and is committed to building the group's largest production base in South China. The group also positions Nanning as a supply chain hub radiating the ASEAN market.
At present, nearly 200 leading companies have established themselves in Guangxi to explore the ASEAN market. Guangxi is building the Pinglu Canal Economic Belt to high standards and building a "leaf-vein" industrial layout to the sea. It will build a cross-regional and cross-border industrial chain supply chain with ASEAN in the fields of non-ferrous metals and key metal materials, modern green chemicals, artificial intelligence and new generation information technology, new energy vehicles and batteries.
When one river connects, all industries prosper. As China's first full-life-cycle smart canal, the Pinglu Canal also opens up a new space for cooperation between China and ASEAN in emerging fields such as digital economy and green smart shipping. This "water highway" is becoming a new link for China-ASEAN cooperation with two-way empowerment and mutual benefit. (over)
