Key artery reshapes regional logistics, opens direct sea route to ASEAN markets. Ren Qi reports
The newly opened Pinglu Canal in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region is reshaping regional logistics and reducing transport costs by providing southwestern China with its fi rst direct waterway to the sea and closer access to Southeast Asian markets.
Opened to navigation on September 16, the 134.2-kilometer waterway connects the Xijiang River system in the county-level city of Hengzhou in the north to Qinzhou Port in the Beibu Gulf in the south. Despite Beibu Gulf being southwestern China’s closest maritime outlet, geographical barriers historically prevented a direct north-south connection. It is the fi rst waterway built in the country to connect a river system directly to the sea since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
Previously, waterborne freight between the region and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations had to detour extensively eastward along the Xijiang River before reaching the ocean. The canal now creates a second navigable route to the sea for the Pearl River-Xijiang system, ofering the inland region a direct southern path to global markets.
The canal’s immediate impact on corporate logistics is already visible. Recently, a batch of auto parts from SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile began its journey from Liuzhou, Guangxi. The cargo was transported by road to the Liujing port area in Nanning, where it was loaded onto ships. It then traveled south via the Pinglu Canal to the Beibu Gulf, and eventually arrived in Vietnam.
Wei Qingfu, a logistics manager at the automaker, noted that the canal provides a new maritime route for industries like automobiles, construction machinery and new energy batteries, helping enterprises improve delivery effciency and lower comprehensive logistics costs.
For companies highly dependent on bulk water transport, the canal enhances supply chain stability. At the Liujing Industrial Park in Nanning, located about 50 km from the canal’s starting point, French company SNF Group is accelerating the construction of a paper chemical project with an annual capacity of 370,000 metric tons. The enterprise was drawn to the area by the logistics convenience brought by the canal and Nanning’s strategic location facing ASEAN, aiming to further expand its overseas market presence.
Expectations are also high for the agricultural sector. Zheng Yunliang, general manager of Nanning Puleng International Logistics Co, who recently expanded his cold chain business in Guangxi, pointed out that as port and storage facilities improve, fresh fruits and other agricultural products will likely utilize the new waterway.
Zheng said that in the long run this will lower costs, facilitating the entry of more ASEAN agricultural goods into China and helping southwestern Chinese specialty products reach Southeast Asia more easily.
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