China invented canals a thousand years ago.
The Pinglu Canal – the Western Land-Sea New Corridor backbone project – is the first major canal project connecting rivers and seas since the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The Grand Canal, stretching from Beijing to Hangzhou, is the longest artificial waterway ever built on Earth, over seventeen hundred kilometers of hand-dug channel that took centuries to complete. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the greatest engineering achievements in human history.
Now the Pinglu Canal, the first major canal project connecting rivers and seas since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, is due to open at the China-ASEAN Expo in September 2026.
The project cost is US$10.2 billion and is one of the flagship investments under China’s strategy to develop Guangxi and Yunnan as gateways to ASEAN. Direct access to the Beibu Gulf removes the cost penalty of the existing route and opens commodities to ASEAN markets at commercially competitive prices for the first time.
Southern China’s Guangxi region sits right next to the sea. You can stand on a hill in southern Guangxi and see the ocean glistening on the horizon. But geography means the rivers there flow east, not south. A vessel moving cargo from Nanning currently routes via the Pearl River to Guangzhou and then south to open sea, a journey of approximately 900 kilometres to the nearest major export port. The Pinglu Canal reduces that distance to roughly 340 kilometres, saving 560 kilometers off the journey, saving fuel and time – with an estimated reduction in CO2 emissions of 163.6 tonnes per vessel for each one-way voyage.
At 134 kilometres, the Pinglu Canal runs from the Xijin Reservoir on the Qianjiang River to the Beibu Gulf near Qinzhou, bypassing the Pearl River estuary and the Guangdong port corridor that has historically processed the bulk of southern Chinese export cargo. Designed for 10,000-tonne vessels it incorporates three ship locks and a gravity wharf, a structure that allows vessels to moor without mechanical assistance and reduces port call times.
For supply chain operators in Vietnam, Malaysia and across the Gulf of Tonkin, the canal will directly improve the competitive freight environment. Yunnan and Guizhou commodities will reach ASEAN through a shorter, cheaper sea corridor. That changes landed costs for buyers of phosphate fertiliser, aluminium and agricultural products who have historically priced in the Guangdong premium.
In the reverse direction, ASEAN exporters of rubber, rice and processed food gain a new, lower-cost access route to China’s interior consumer markets.
Construction of the Pinglu Canal started in August 2022, with shipping preparations commencing in May 2026, with trial voyages in July and August ahead of its September opening.
Read more: Seetao, May 19, 2026. https://www.seetaoe.com/details/265739.html
Source: Value Chain Asia, May 15, 2026. https://valuechainasia.com/…/guangxi-pinglu-canal…
Watch video: Dark Span, May 24, 2026. https://youtu.be/WPMAD1Yyz3U
