Funing Port is racing to be completed within the year.

In early autumn, the clear waters of the Youjiang River flow eastward. At the construction site of Funing Port in Yunnan, the 1,000-ton cargo berth has already taken shape. As the "first port" of the Pinglu Canal directly reaching the heart of Yunnan, Funing Port is making an all-out effort to be completed within the year. From Funing Port, ships can travel downstream along the Youjiang River, pass through Baise, enter the Pinglu Canal, and reach the Beibu Gulf, forming the fastest and most convenient golden waterway for Yunnan to access the sea.

The Youjiang-Zhujiang waterway is one of the main channels in Yunnan's water transport plan for "two exits from the province." With the Western Land-Sea New Corridor elevated to a national strategy, the construction of Funing Port, the high-grade waterway in the Youjiang Baise Reservoir area (Yunnan section), and the navigation facilities of the Baise Water Conservancy Hub in Guangxi have all been set into motion.

Funing Port adopts a phased construction approach. The first phase currently underway includes the construction of one passenger berth and one berth each for bulk cargo, general cargo, and container cargo. Once completed, it will handle an annual cargo throughput of 2 million tons and 600,000 passengers. When the first phase reaches 80% of its designed capacity, the second phase will commence immediately. Upon completion, Funing Port's designed annual cargo throughput capacity will increase to 10.242 million tons.

For a long time, due to geographical constraints, Yunnan's goods relied mainly on road and rail for access to the sea, with high logistics costs limiting the pace of Yunnan products leaving the province. As one of the first provincial-level logistics hubs, Funing Port integrates functions such as bulk logistics and agricultural product logistics. Once operational, Yunnan's eastward waterway access to the sea will achieve a breakthrough, completely changing the previous reliance on the single inland waterway of the Jinsha River for exiting the province. This will significantly reduce logistics costs for local minerals and specialty agricultural products, greatly increase the province's waterway cargo throughput, and provide strong water transport support for deeper integration with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone.

To open the shortest waterway access to the sea, the navigation facilities of the Baise Water Conservancy Hub are a critical "bottleneck" project that must be overcome. Currently, the upstream provincial water lock and the 2.2-kilometer canal waterway in the midstream have been fully completed, while the construction of the 147-meter-high "ship elevator" lift tower, capable of lifting over 10,000 tons, is in full swing. Additionally, the high-grade waterway in the Youjiang Baise Reservoir area (Yunnan section), a necessary passage for ships departing from Funing Port to the sea, began construction in March 2025.

According to the plan, by September this year, when the entire Pinglu Canal becomes navigable, the first phase of Funing Port will be completed simultaneously, and the navigation facilities of the Baise Water Conservancy Hub and the high-grade waterway in the Youjiang Baise Reservoir area (Yunnan section) will undergo trial navigation in 2027. By then, the 1,000-ton waterway corridor of Funing Port-Youjiang-Pinglu Canal will be fully operational, supporting Yunnan's proactive efforts to serve and integrate into the construction of a hub radiating toward South Asia and Southeast Asia, the Western Land-Sea New Corridor, and the Belt and Road Initiative. The unique geographical advantage of "connecting two oceans (the Pacific and Indian Oceans)" will become even more prominent.