A service area along the nearly completed Pinglu Canal in Qinzhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on June 3, 2026. Photo: VCG

The Pinglu Canal in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region started live-ship navigation trial on Wednesday. It is the first full-channel, all-vessel-type live-ship trial on the canal and the last test before the waterway fully opens to navigation in September, the CCTV News reported. 

Four vessels of the 1,000-ton, 3,000-ton and 5,000-ton classes were deployed for the trial. Moving in phases along the canal's main channel, they will verify navigation under different operating conditions and test the performance of navigation aids across the entire route, comprehensively checking the safety and stability of the canal's channel, ship-locks, anchorages and service areas to lay a solid foundation for the canal's opening, said the report. 

The Pinglu Canal is a backbone project of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and the first canal linking inland rivers to the sea to be coordinated at the national level since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Overall construction progress has passed 98 percent, the report noted. 

Notably, the canal's planned opening month of September coincides with the annual China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, Guangxi.

The canal stretches 134.2 kilometers from the Pingtangjiangkou section of the Xijin reservoir area in Nanning, to the Beibu Gulf via Qinzhou city. It can handle 5,000-ton vessels.

Three navigation hubs — Madao, Qishi and Qingnian — are located from upstream to downstream, equipped with twin single-step 5,000-ton ship-locks with a designed annual one-way capacity of 89 million tons. Construction began in August 2022, with a total budgeted cost of 72.719 billion yuan ($10.78 billion), according to Nanning Evening News.

Once in operation, the canal will let ships from the middle and upper reaches of the Xijiang River sail directly to the Beibu Gulf. The canal will cut roughly 560 kilometers from the current inland waterway route to the sea via Guangzhou Port, shortening delivery time and lowering logistics costs, said Xinhua.

The first full‑route patrol of the Pinglu Canal was completed on August 8. During the patrol, maritime authorities conducted on‑site inspections of key navigation conditions, including channel dimensions, curved sections of the waterway, navigational clearance beneath bridges, ship‑lock approach channels and more, the Guangxi Daily reported. 

Global Times