After thorough deliberation, China has made Nanning one of the focal points of the proposed Maritime Silk Road, leveraging the southern city’s natural connectivity linkages with Southeast Asia and growth hubs of Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao.
The waterways of Xijiang River that flows through the city lead to the Pearl River and the South China Sea.
Once a port on the river is modernised, approximately in five years, it would enable a cargo ship of 2,000 tonnes to head for the bustling commercial cities of Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao. By 2020, Nanning port’s capacity is expected to rise to 22.83 million tonnes.
In view of the vast potential of the greater Pearl River Delta region, Chinese authorities are developing the Pearl River-Xijiang River Economic Belt. When fully developed, the waterways would strongly reinforce Nanning’s state-of-the-art rail and road connectivity to the coast. An active high-speed link has already slashed transit time between Nanning and Guangzhou to four hours.
Shanghai is only 10 hours away, leaving behind the rather arduous 33-hour rail journey of the past into distant memory. The Guangxi province, of which Nanning is the capital, is also the gateway to a large landlocked space. Three deep water ports that face the Beibu Gulf of the South China Sea — Qinzhou, Fangchenggang and Beihai — at a distance ranging from104 to 204 km can be accessed from Nanning.
Air connectivity has not been ignored either. Eighty-seven domestic and foreign airlines fly from Nanning’s Wuxu International Airport, to 64 cities, including all capital of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Its prized geographic location is making the city the fulcrum of China’s access to the most dynamic zones of Southeast Asia.
