At 10:25 am on September 16, 2026, the whistle of the Ma Dao Hub pierced the sea surface of Qinzhou. The audience applauded as the 39.08 meter high giant zigzag gate slowly opened, and the Pinglu Canal officially opened for navigation. This century long project, spanning four years of construction, finally completed the historic hand in hand between the Xijiang River and the Beibu Gulf.

Four of the world's most practical applications

The Pinglu Canal has a total length of 134.2 kilometers, starting from the mouth of Pingtang River in Hengzhou City, Nanning, and running along the Qinjiang River directly to the Beibu Gulf. It is built according to the first-class inland waterway standards and can accommodate ships of 5000 tons throughout the entire journey.

Since the start of construction in August 2022, tens of thousands of builders have worked together to build the three major cascade hubs of Madao, Qishi, and Qingnian, achieving four global industry records: the world's strongest navigation capacity for similar canals, the world's fastest navigation speed for similar locks, the world's highest drop in water saving locks, and the world's largest scale of inland water saving locks. The integrated intelligent scheduling platform for water transportation in Guangxi has been launched simultaneously, realizing the integrated operation of navigation declaration, gate crossing scheduling, and navigation supervision for the entire waterway.

The comprehensive activation of the river sea intermodal transportation network

On the first day of navigation, 14 cargo ships loaded with sugar, building materials, and minerals sailed south and set sail directly to the sea, while 16 ships loaded with coal, iron ore, and bauxite sailed upstream into the Xijiang River Basin. The "Nanning Vietnam Qinju" foreign trade route and the "Nanning Hainan Yangpu" domestic trade route set sail simultaneously in both directions.

Four water passenger routes have also been officially opened, connecting service areas, hubs, and coastal nodes such as Longmen Bridge along the route. After the canal is put into use, the distance of goods from the southwest region to the inland waterway will be shortened by more than 560 kilometers, which can save transportation costs of over 5 billion yuan for the society along the route every year. The original logistics route that detours to the east will now add a low-cost channel that directly connects to the ASEAN market to the south. Keywords: Pinglu Canal, inland waterway transportation

More than 2000 years ago, the Lingqu Canal connected the Yangtze River and the Pearl River water systems. Now, the Pinglu Canal connects the Xijiang River and the Beibu Gulf. Guangxi's geographical advantage has truly become an open hub advantage connecting the river and the sea.Editor/Cheng Liting