Chongqing - A new waterway is reshaping how China’s inland regions reach global markets. Opened on September 16, the Pinglu Canal in China's Guangxi Province shortens shipping routes by more than 560 kilometers for cargo that once had to detour through the Pearl River Delta.
The 134.2-kilometer canal, built with an investment of about 72.7 billion yuan (about 10.2 billion U.S. dollars), connects Guangxi’s river network with the Beibu Gulf and adds a new maritime gateway for western China.
The canal is an engineering feat done in four years. It entered national planning only in 2021, written into the 14th Five-Year Plan and a master plan for the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC). Approval followed in March 2022, and excavation began that August. To build this waterway, crews removed more than 200 million cubic metres of rock and earth, and the Madao lock, 300 metres by 34 metres, is billed as the largest inland water-saving ship lock built.
Beyond boosting Guangxi's economy, Pinglu Canal is strengthening Chongqing's logistics bid to connect western China, ASEAN, and beyond. It adds a new option for the city's outgoing trade. Whereas exporters already move goods south to the Beibu Gulf by rail along the ILSTC and east along the Yangtze, the canal offers heavy, batch-steady cargo such as auto parts, motorcycles, and steel an even cheaper rail-and-water combination so that firms can price each shipment against its own market.
As a key link connecting the ILSTC, the China-Europe Railway Express and the Yangtze River shipping network, Chongqing can use this connectivity to capture more value across supply chains. Looking ahead, the city could further develop as a hub for consolidating goods and components, as well as providing industrial services.
The Pinglu Canal strengthens access to the Beibu Gulf and its deep-water ports facing ASEAN markets. As cargo flows concentrate in Qinzhou, the canal could help drive the growth of more international shipping routes and denser trade connections.