At the confluence of the Pingtang River in Xinfu Town, Hengzhou, Nanning, Guangxi, the marker for the "zero point" of the Pinglu Canal stands tall, gazing out over the water. Local resident Wei Xiaoqun has transformed her riverside home into a family-run restaurant, now hosting around 30 tables a month—all because the 134.2-kilometer Pinglu Canal is expected to officially open to navigation in mid-September this year. As the first canal project in New China to connect a river directly to the sea, it links the Xijiang River in the north with the Beibu Gulf in the south, capable of handling 5,000-ton vessels. This will cut the inland waterway distance for southwest cargo heading to the sea via the Beibu Gulf by approximately 560 kilometers compared to routing through Guangzhou Port, with overall logistics costs projected to drop by 18% to 30%, saving over 5 billion yuan in transport expenses annually. Behind these figures lies a millennium-old aspiration to reach the sea, now being answered in southwest China's contemporary era.

Rewriting the Fate of "Connecting Rivers but Not the Sea"

In Bo'ai Town, Funing County, Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan Province, the Funing Port is racing to complete construction by year's end, with welding sparks flying and quay cranes moving into place. "Once completed, Funing Port will fundamentally change the current single eastward route for Yunnan's cargo to reach the sea," said He Yongsheng, Chairman of Yunnan Jiaotou Funing Port Investment and Construction Co., Ltd. For a long time, Yunnan has held a strategic location facing South and Southeast Asia, yet has been constrained by being "bordering countries but lacking coastline, and connecting rivers but failing to reach the sea." Traditional water transport relied on the Shuifu Port to head east along the Yangtze River, making a lengthy 2,800-kilometer detour to Shanghai for ocean access. Guizhou faces similar waterway limitations, requiring passage through Guangzhou. The opening of the Pinglu Canal is set to end this awkward predicament.

In Baise, Guangxi, a ship lift tower stands majestically within the Youjiang River canyon. The Baise Water Conservancy Hub's navigation facility, the world's first thousand-ton-class hub deploying a combined solution of an "upstream water-saving ship lock, a long-distance middle channel, and a downstream vertical ship lift," is expected to be ready for trial navigation in the first half of 2027. It will overcome a hundred-meter-level water level difference in one go: vessels will first "climb" a 25-meter "staircase," then traverse an "aerial bridge," and finally "take an elevator" descending 88.8 meters. Cargo from Yunnan can then travel from Funing Port in Wenshan via the Youjiang River, the Baise Hub, and the Pinglu Canal, ultimately reaching the Beibu Gulf waters—a total journey of only about 860 kilometers. "Transport costs for bulk cargo in Yunnan are expected to decrease by 10% to 20%," noted Yu Xia, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Baise Hub Navigation Investment Co., Ltd. As the thousand-ton waterway corridor linking Funing Port, the Youjiang River, and the Pinglu Canal becomes fully operational in 2027, Yunnan's long-cherished vision of connecting rivers to the sea will finally become reality.

Redefining the Value of Water Transport

Lei Xiaohua, Deputy Director of the Southeast Asia Research Institute at the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, points out that the Pinglu Canal's fundamental role lies in water transport, logistics, and multimodal connectivity. The ripple effects on industrial layout necessitate forward-looking planning for a canal economic belt. With significantly reduced transport costs for outbound cargo via the canal, "it represents a major dividend for bulk commodities." Southwest China's minerals, energy resources, green aluminum, and phosphate chemical products can reach the Beibu Gulf with low costs and high volumes, gaining a competitive price advantage internationally.

Liu Jinxin, Director of the Kunming South and Southeast Asia International Logistics Research Institute, believes the Pinglu Canal is not merely adding another waterway route but perfecting the multimodal transport system. Reduced logistics costs directly spur industrial development and foreign trade competitiveness. Once the canal opens, the Xijiang shipping route will directly connect with Beibu Gulf ports via the canal. Inland river ports along the river, such as Yunnan's Funing Port and Guizhou's Wangmo and Weng'an Ports, can integrate into this corridor through tributaries like the Youjiang and Hongshui Rivers. Goods from Sichuan and other regions can also transit through Baise via rail-water intermodal transport before heading to sea through the canal, offering greater convenience and lower costs for enterprises.

The Synergy of the China-Laos Railway and the Pinglu Canal

A canal's true value is measured by its chemical reactions with other transport corridors. In July, Yunnan and Guangxi held a cargo supply matchmaking conference for the Pinglu Canal in Kunming, where enterprises from both regions signed transport cooperation agreements. Yunnan is accelerating Funing Port's construction. The linkage between the China-Laos Railway and the Pinglu Canal is creating a multiplicative effect combining "overland cross-border rail with river-sea access": ASEAN goods arriving via the China-Laos Railway can be swiftly distributed to the Yangtze River Economic Belt or shipped out to sea through the Pinglu Canal via rail-water transfer, achieving mutual reinforcement in both directions. Feng Yong, Director of the Laos Research Institute at the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, characterizes this as a three-step leap in southwest China's "maritime dream": "From the spiritual emblem of Zheng He's voyages, to the 'golden artery' of the China-Laos Railway, and now the river-sea corridor of the Pinglu Canal, the southwestern provinces are completing an ascent from historical memory to a comprehensive open pattern."

The Guiyang International Land Port has already linked the China-Laos Railway, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, and the Pinglu Canal through its "four-direction freight trains." In the future, Guizhou's cargo can travel south via the Huangbai Railway to Baise, transfer to vessels on the Youjiang River, enter the Pinglu Canal, and sail out from the Beibu Gulf—a journey 560 kilometers shorter than the detour through Guangzhou Port. The synergy of these corridors will become evident: the China-Laos Railway efficiently connects China with the Indochina Peninsula, while the Pinglu Canal fills the critical gap of direct waterway access to the Beibu Gulf, jointly driving the coordinated construction of international corridors between southwest China and ASEAN nations.

A New Chapter in Southwest China-ASEAN Connectivity

The canal's construction is quietly transforming the cooperation paradigm between southwest China and ASEAN. Lei Xiaohua suggests that Vietnamese raw materials could be transported via the canal to Nanning, Baise in Guangxi, and Funing in Yunnan, while Chinese building materials, ceramics, and other products could ship in the opposite direction. "Among ASEAN countries, Vietnam is likely to be the most frequent user of the canal, given its proximity." Feng Yong points out that the Pinglu Canal will drive Yunnan's cooperation model with ASEAN to expand from "light and fast goods" to "bulk commodities," strengthening the "Yunnan-Guangxi linkage" and industrial coordination. "Yunnan's green aluminum, phosphate chemicals, and non-ferrous precious metals can reach ASEAN directly through the canal, while ASEAN mineral resources and agricultural products can enter Yunnan for processing at lower costs."

Liu Jinxin observes that Yunnan's traditional cooperation model with ASEAN has relied on "overland transport, Lancang-Mekong shipping, and Beibu Gulf maritime routes." Once the Pinglu Canal is fully operational, it will open the shortest and most convenient sea access route for the southwest region and give rise to an Indo-Pacific continental bridge corridor model—connecting Guangxi's Pacific coastal ports through Yunnan's hinterland to Myanmar's Indian Ocean port cluster. Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group Co., Ltd., the canal's primary shipping operator, has established dedicated cargo sourcing teams, having visited over 160 industrial and mining enterprises and secured cooperation intentions for cargo volumes. Moving forward, it plans to increase near-sea ASEAN routes based on cargo development and explore direct shipping services to destinations such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore.

The Vision of a Canal Economic Belt

The canal's value extends far beyond logistics itself. Lei Xiaohua stresses: "What matters most is the economic belt it will create. Without that, thriving logistics alone would be of limited significance." Just as the Yangtze River Economic Belt fostered megacities like Chongqing and Wuhan, the Liujing area along the Pinglu Canal—situated at the canal's junction with the Xijiang River—"is likely to develop into a new inland river town, becoming the eastern new district of Nanning and attracting industry and population," says Lei Xiaohua.

The canal's three core functions—logistics, an economic belt, and services including culture and tourism—each have potential to flourish. "Canal tourism could be developed in the future," Lei suggests. While some cargo currently shipped from Guigang in Guangxi to Guangdong for ocean export may shift to the Pinglu Canal, the early navigation phase should focus on stable operations, with cargo volume growth progressing gradually. "The key is converting interest into actual throughput." Liu Jinxin emphasizes that as New China's first major canal connecting a river to the sea, the Pinglu Canal's opening represents not just a physical new waterway but a strategic upgrade of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, injecting fresh momentum into regional economic development and opening-up.

A New Southwest China Emerges

Standing at the Pingtang River estuary, gazing across the expansive waters, a profound sense of history washes over you. From the Lingqu Canal in Guilin, built for "grain transport and troop movement," to the Pinglu Canal's focus on "logistics and an economic belt," from "being by the river yet unable to see the sea" to "integrated river-sea transport," southwest China is redefining its relationship with the ocean through these 134.2 kilometers of canal. When the first 5,000-ton vessel sails from the Pingtang River mouth toward the Beibu Gulf in mid-September, it will carry not just cargo but a thousand-year-old maritime dream.

In Funing, Yunnan, beneath the red banner reading "Yunnan Heads to the Sea from Here," welding sparks continue to fly—people deep in the mountains have long awaited a passage to the ocean they can truly call their own. The canal's opening is merely the beginning. The real story will be written in the percentages of reduced logistics costs, in the industrial coordination map spanning Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guizhou, and in the interwoven veins of a China-ASEAN economic circle. A new three-dimensional opening-up landscape for the southwest, with the China-Laos Railway as its vertical axis and the Pinglu Canal as its horizontal wing, is rapidly transforming from blueprint to reality.