At Pingtang River Estuary in Xinfu Town, Hengzhou City, Nanning, Guangxi, the "Zero Point" marker of the Pinglu Canal stands facing the river. Local villager Wei Xiaoqun has converted her riverside home into a farm stay, now hosting around 30 tables of guests monthly, all because the 134.2-kilometer canal at her doorstep is expected to officially open to navigation in mid-September this year.

This is the first canal project in the history of the People's Republic of China to connect a river directly to the sea. Linking the Xijiang River in the north with the Beibu Gulf in the south, it accommodates vessels of up to 5,000 deadweight tons, shortening the inland waterway route for southwest cargo to reach the sea via the Beibu Gulf by roughly 560 kilometers compared to the detour through Guangzhou Port. Overall logistics costs are projected to drop between 18% and 30%, saving more than 5 billion yuan in annual transportation expenses. Behind these figures lies an enduring maritime aspiration stretching back a millennium, now being answered in contemporary Southwest China.

Rewriting the Fate of "River Access Without Sea Access"

In Bo'ai Town, Funing County, Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan Province, the Funing Port is racing toward completion by year's end, with sparks flying from welding and shore cranes being positioned on rails. "Once Funing Port is operational, it will fundamentally break the current single eastbound route for Yunnan's cargo exports," said He Yongsheng, chairman of Yunnan Communications Investment Funing Port Construction Co., Ltd. For years, Yunnan has held a strategic geographical advantage facing South and Southeast Asia, yet has been constrained by being "bordering countries but not the sea, with river access but no marine passage." Traditional water transport relied on the Shuifu Port along the Yangtze River eastward, circumnavigating Shanghai to reach the sea—a voyage spanning 2,800 kilometers. Guizhou Province has faced similar limitations, forced to channel its waterborne cargo through Guangzhou. The opening of the Pinglu Canal is set to end this predicament once and for all.

In Baise, Guangxi, the ship lift tower looms majestically within the Youjiang River gorge. The Baise Water Conservancy Hub Navigation Facility—the world's first thousand-ton-class hub employing a combined scheme of "upstream water-saving ship locks, a long-distance intermediate 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 vertical drop of nearly 100 meters in one go: vessels will first "climb" a 25-meter staircase, then cross an elevated bridge-like channel, and finally "take an elevator" descending 88.8 meters. Yunnan's cargo can travel from Funing Port via the Youjiang River, through the Baise hub, and into the Pinglu Canal, ultimately reaching the Beibu Gulf—a total journey of just about 860 kilometers. "Transportation costs for bulk commodities from Yunnan are expected to fall by 10% to 20%," said Yu Xia, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Baise Hub Navigation Investment Co., Ltd. Once the thousand-ton waterway corridor connecting Funing Port, the Youjiang River, and the Pinglu Canal is fully operational in 2027, Yunnan's long-held vision of river-sea intermodal connectivity will finally become reality.

Reanchoring 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 most fundamental role lies in water transport, logistics, and multimodal connectivity, which in turn drives industrial layout along its route—requiring forward-looking planning for a canal economic belt. With significantly reduced shipping costs for outbound cargo, "this represents a major dividend for bulk commodities." Minerals, energy resources, green aluminum, and phosphate chemical products from the southwest can reach the Beibu Gulf at low cost and high volume, gaining a competitive price advantage internationally. Liu Jinxin, president of the Kunming International Logistics Research Institute for South and Southeast Asia, believes the Pinglu Canal is not merely adding another waterway route but perfecting the multimodal transport system, where reduced logistics costs directly boost industrial development and foreign trade competitiveness.

Once the canal is operational, the Xijiang shipping trunk line will connect directly to Beibu Gulf ports through the canal. Inland river ports along the route, including Yunnan's Funing Port and Guizhou's Wangmo Port and Weng'an Port, can tap into this corridor via the Youjiang and Hongshui River systems. Goods from as far as Sichuan can also reach the canal through rail-water intermodal transfer at Baise, offering greater convenience and lower costs for enterprises. The synergy between the China-Laos Railway and the Pinglu Canal is already taking shape: ASEAN cargo arriving via the railway can be rapidly distributed to the Yangtze River Economic Belt or re-exported through the canal via rail-water transfer, creating a two-way complementary effect.

The China-Laos Railway and Pinglu Canal Synergy

A canal's true value is measured by how many corridors it activates. In July this year, Yunnan and Guangxi held a cargo sourcing matchmaking event in Kunming, where enterprises from both sides signed transport cooperation agreements. Yunnan is accelerating the construction of Funing Port. The linkage between the China-Laos Railway and the Pinglu Canal is creating a multiplier effect of "overland cross-border plus river-sea export": ASEAN goods arriving via the railway can be quickly distributed to the Yangtze River Economic Belt or shipped out through the canal, achieving mutual reinforcement. Feng Yong, director of the Laos Research Institute at the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, describes this as a three-step leap in the southwest's maritime dream: "From the spiritual symbol of Zheng He's voyages, to the 'golden artery' of the China-Laos Railway, and now to the river-sea passage of the Pinglu Canal—southwestern provinces are completing the ascent from historical memory to a comprehensive opening-up landscape."

The Guiyang International Land Port has already linked the China-Laos Railway, the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, and the Pinglu Canal through its "four-direction freight trains." Guizhou's cargo can now travel south via the Huangbai Railway to Baise, transfer to vessels on the Youjiang River, enter the Pinglu Canal, and reach the sea through the Beibu Gulf—saving 560 kilometers compared to the route via Guangzhou Port. The corridor synergy is set to amplify: the China-Laos Railway efficiently connects China with the Indochina Peninsula, while the Pinglu Canal fills the critical gap for direct waterborne access to the Beibu Gulf, together strengthening coordinated international corridor development between Southwest China and ASEAN nations.

A New Era of China-Southwest-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 shipped via the canal to Nanning, Baise, and Funing, while Chinese building materials and ceramics could flow in the opposite direction. "Vietnam is likely to be the most frequent user of the canal among ASEAN countries, given its proximity." Feng Yong notes that the canal will expand Yunnan's cooperation model with ASEAN, shifting from "light and time-sensitive goods" to "bulk commodities," and strengthening the Yunnan-Guangxi partnership and industrial coordination. "Yunnan's green aluminum, phosphate chemicals, and non-ferrous/precious metals can reach ASEAN directly via the canal, while ASEAN minerals and agricultural products can enter Yunnan for processing at lower costs."

Liu Jinxin believes that Yunnan's longstanding cooperation model with ASEAN—"overland transport plus Lancang-Mekong shipping plus Beibu Gulf maritime routes"—will be complemented by the canal, which opens the shortest and most convenient sea passage for the southwest. This could give rise to what he terms the Indo-Pacific Land Bridge corridor model: Guangxi's Pacific coast ports—Yunnan's hinterland—Myanmar's Indian Ocean port cluster. Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group, the canal's primary shipping operator, has already established a cargo sourcing task force, visiting over 160 industrial and mining enterprises and securing cooperation agreements for freight volumes. Looking ahead, the group plans to densify ASEAN near-sea routes and explore direct sailings to Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore based on cargo growth.

The Vision of a Canal Economic Belt

The canal's value extends far beyond logistics. Lei Xiaohua emphasizes: "The most important outcome is the economic belt it creates. Without that, even thriving logistics would be of limited significance." Just as the Yangtze River Economic Belt has spawned megacities like Chongqing and Wuhan, the Liujing area along the Pinglu Canal—where the canal meets the Xijiang River—"could well develop into a new inland river town, becoming the eastern new city of Nanning, attracting industries and population." The canal's three core functions—logistics, economic belt development, and services (including cultural tourism)—all have room to flourish. "Canal tourism could be developed in the future," Lei suggests. While some cargo currently shipped from Guigang, Guangxi to Guangdong for export may shift to the Pinglu Canal, the initial phase will focus on stable operations with gradual cargo volume growth. "The key is converting intent into actual throughput."

Liu Jinxin emphasizes that as the first river-to-sea canal in the history of the People's Republic of China, the Pinglu Canal's opening is not merely the creation of a physical waterway but a strategic upgrade of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, injecting fresh momentum into regional economic development and opening-up.

China's New West Emerges

Standing at the Pingtang River Estuary, gazing across the expanse of water, a profound sense of history washes over you. From the Lingqu Canal in Guilin, built for grain transport and military movement, to the Pinglu Canal serving logistics and economic belts; from being "beside rivers but cut off from the sea" to achieving river-sea intermodal connectivity, Southwest China has used this 134.2-kilometer canal to redefine its relationship with the ocean. When the first 5,000-ton vessel departs Pingtang River Estuary for the Beibu Gulf in mid-September, it will carry not just cargo but a thousand-year maritime aspiration.

In Funing, Yunnan, beneath the red-lettered slogan "Yunnan heads to the sea from here," welding sparks continue to fly—people deep in the mountains await a sea route they can truly call their own. The canal's opening is only the beginning. The real story lies in the percentage points of logistics cost reduction, in the coordinated industrial landscape of Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guizhou, and in the veins of the China-ASEAN ring economic circle. A new three-dimensional opening-up panorama for the southwest—anchored by the China-Laos Railway as its vertical axis and the Pinglu Canal as its horizontal wing—is accelerating from blueprint to reality.