PHNOM PENH, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's recently inaugurated Pinglu Canal will boost trade and logistics with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by reducing shipping time and logistics costs, a Cambodian media publisher said on Monday.
Officially opened to navigation on Sept. 16, the 134.2-kilometer Pinglu Canal links the Xijiang River shipping route with the Beibu Gulf, shortening the inland water journey for goods from southwest China to the sea by more than 560 kilometers compared to traditional routes through Guangdong Province.
Designed for vessels of up to 5,000 tonnes, the canal, which runs from Hengzhou in Guangxi to the Beibu Gulf, is a key component of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor connecting China's inland regions with ASEAN and other global markets.
Soy Sopheap, founder and publisher of DAP News in Cambodia, who toured the canal site in early September, praised the project as a remarkable engineering feat.
"It's really an amazing, massive, and modern feat of engineering," Sopheap told Xinhua in an interview.
He added that developers built specialized wildlife crossing bridges where the channel cuts through mountains, while integrated wind turbines have turned the area into a new landscape for regional tourism.
The publisher said the canal cuts down the costs of goods for export.
"It drastically cuts down transportation costs. Not only does China benefit, but ASEAN countries also get access to much cheaper goods because of this canal."
Sopheap said the waterway will provide a long-term boost to trade and logistics between Cambodia and China, particularly once the construction of the Funan Techo Canal -- Cambodia's first inland waterway connecting the Mekong River system to the sea -- is completed.
"With goods flowing through the Pinglu Canal, our two countries will see stronger shared economic growth," he said. "It brings our people closer together."■
