Pinglu Canal Nears Navigation: Multiple New River-Sea Intermodal and Transnational Shipping Routes Complete Maiden Voyage Preparations

en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Pinglu Canal, the first canal project at the national level connecting rivers to the sea since the founding of New China, will open to navigation tomorrow (the 16th).

Multimodal transport trains have arrived at the port, river-sea vessels have all berthed, and multiple brand-new river-sea intermodal and transnational shipping routes have completed maiden voyage preparations, marking that a modern logistics corridor connecting the southwestern region to the sea and to ASEAN is about to be fully operational.

The train coming from Liuzhou is slowly pulling into the Nanning Port Liujing Service Area where we are now. After the Pinglu Canal opens to navigation, it will carry river-sea intermodal vessels directly to Hainan's Yangpu Port.

This batch of ten containers of special cement dispatched from Liuzhou is one of the first batches of stockpiled cargo for the Pinglu Canal, and this is only the beginning.

Kong Fanqiang, Deputy General Manager of Guangxi Yufeng Group Co., Ltd.: We expect to ship several hundred thousand tons of cement through the Pinglu Canal to the sea every year. This time, using water transport has saved us more than ten days, and on cement transportation alone, we can save several hundred thousand yuan every year.

There is more than one cargo owner who has done such calculations. A large number of foreign trade enterprises in the southwestern hinterland are looking forward to the canal's opening, and more and more cargo vessels have already been put in place.

Also berthed at Nanning Port is the vessel "Beigang Nanning Borun," which is also the first time an international shipping vessel has berthed at Nanning Port.

The arrival of this Panama-registered foreign trade vessel with a deadweight of 4,443 tons marks a historic breakthrough in enabling foreign trade sea-going vessels to reach Nanning's inland river port directly from Beibu Gulf seaports, and also signifies that Nanning Port's foreign-related shipping and river-sea direct foreign trade support system has formally taken shape. Relying on a well-established port operation system, the maiden voyage of the "Nanning Port–Vietnam Can Tho Port" direct route is imminent.

The reporter is holding a cargo list provided by the local customs. From it, one can see that the cargo loaded on the "Beigang Nanning Borun" includes building materials and chemical raw materials from Sichuan, Chongqing, and Guangxi itself, as well as Wuling auto parts dispatched from Liuzhou. These goods are transported from the southwestern hinterland via railway trunk lines to Nanning Port, then through the Pinglu Canal to Vietnam's Can Tho Port, truly achieving direct river-sea transport.

The Pinglu Canal not only opens up the downstream channel for southwestern goods to reach the sea, but also creates an efficient path for the import of overseas bulk raw materials into southwestern industrial bases. The vessel "Yonghai 668," now berthed at Qinzhou Port, is loaded with potash fertilizer imported from Laos, which arrived at Qinzhou Port via maritime transport through Vietnam. It will subsequently sail to the Madao Hub and, via the Pinglu Canal, reach the Guigang Beigang Wharf directly.

Huang Jiantao, Executive Deputy General Manager of the Marketing Department of Sinotrans Guangxi Co., Ltd.: After the Pinglu Canal opens to navigation, it is expected to bring us new river-sea intermodal throughput of no less than 2 million tons this year and no less than 10 million tons next year, and it will also open up a new channel for these customers in the southwest.

To lay a solid foundation for normalized operations after the canal opens to navigation, cargo source organization was launched a full year in advance.

Qin Zhenqiang, Executive Deputy General Manager of Guangxi Beigang Logistics Co., Ltd.: Our team visited Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing, and other places, as well as local areas in Guangxi, and we visited nearly 200 enterprises. At present, the reserve of cargo sources for the Pinglu Canal is already relatively sufficient, and these enterprises are also very much looking forward to the tangible benefits that the opening of the Pinglu Canal will bring them.