In the first half of this year, ports in Guangxi saw a cargo throughput of 323 million metric tons, an increase of 6.29 percent year-on-year. Among them, the coastal ports handled 219 million tons, a 4.46 percent increase, while the inland river ports handled 104 million tons, a 10.38 percent increase.

The container throughput was 5.16 million twenty-feet equivalent units (TEUs), up by 20.8 percent year-on-year, with coastal ports handling 4.32 million TEUs, a 19.76 percent increase.

Since the construction of the Pinglu Canal began, 35.05 billion yuan ($4.89 billion) in investment has been allocated, with 11.133 billion yuan invested this year, accounting for 55.67 percent of the annual target.

The construction of the 200,000-tonnage channel project at Beihai Tieshan Port, the 3,000-tonnage channel project from Nanning (Niuwan) to Guigang on the Xijiang River navigation mainline, and the preliminary work on the 1,000-tonnage navigation structure project of the Yantan Hydropower Station downstream is accelerating, with construction expected to commence within the year.