China’s landmark Pinglu Canal has entered its final phase of construction and is set to begin trial operations as early as September, with a first shipping route linking the country’s heartlands to the free-trade port of Hainan, according to Chinese state media reports.

The Pinglu Canal – China’s most ambitious waterway project in centuries – will stretch 134km (83 miles) from Nanning, capital of the southern Guangxi region, to the Gulf of Tonkin, known as the Beibu Gulf in China.

The aim is to give China’s less-prosperous inland regions quicker and easier access to global sea lanes, boosting local industry and strengthening trade with the country’s largest export market: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

China’s surging trade with Southeast Asia played a key role in helping Beijing ride out a trade war with the United States last year, as a 13.4 per cent rise in Asean exports partly offset a 20 per cent drop in shipments to the US.

The canal’s debut route will be a direct link to another Chinese region: the island province of Hainan, located just across the Gulf of Tonkin, which China is developing into a free-trade hub.

The shipping route from Nanning to Hainan’s Yangpu Port will be launched to coincide with the 23rd China-Asean Expo, which will take place in Nanning in September, the state-run Securities Times reported last week.