China will soon formally open a new 134-kilometre inland canal to facilitate trade with Southeast Asian markets.
Although scheduled to officially open in September, Pinglu Canal has already seen its first trial navigation when a patrol boat of the China Maritime Safety Administration sailed through its entire length.
The river-to-sea canal construction project was undertaken over the course of four years by the Chinese Government at a cost equivalent to US$10.3 billion. It is the first major project of its kind to be executed at the national level since 1949.
The canal starts at the Ping River estuary in Hengzhou in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and ends at the Beibu Gulf.
The Pinglu Canal is being promoted as a means of decongesting vessel traffic along the Yangtze River.
The organisers of the project expect that use of the canal would help reduce annual transportation costs by as much as US$735 million while facilitating increased trade with Southeast Asia.
The construction of the canal also entailed the removal of 315 million cubic metres of material and installation of three hubs with locking stations to address an elevation difference of 65 metres between the river estuary and sea level.
The locks feature advanced mechanisms to enable opening to be completed within one minute and closing within 30 seconds.
