New navigation safety rules for Pinglu Canal take effect Sept 15

New navigation safety rules for the Pinglu Canal take effect Sept 15, ahead of the waterway's official opening the following day.

As the backbone project of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in western China, the 134.2-kilometer Pinglu Canal is built to Class I inland waterway standards and can accommodate 5,000-ton vessels. It marks the first sea-connected canal planned and constructed at the national level since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The canal links rivers to the sea, meaning inland and seagoing vessels will share the same waterway. That requires unified, clear navigation rules to manage mixed traffic. Inland and maritime navigation codes have been integrated as part of a traffic separation scheme, with vessels required to sail on the right side and pass port-to-port.

Upstream and downstream of the Qingnian Hub, separate priority rules apply: upstream traffic yields to downstream traffic in one section, and in the other, vessels sailing against the current give way to those moving with the current.

A "nighttime quiet zone" has been created to minimize noise disturbance to residents at night. The zone runs through urban Qinzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, where residents live close to the banks.

Side-by-side sailing, berthing against slopes, overtaking, and drifting through curved channels have been prohibited.

So far, 570 vessels have obtained qualification to sail the Pinglu Canal, and 681 crew members hold endorsements for the route.