Henan enacts legislation to promote the digitalization and intelligent development of inland navigation.

　　Recently, the 23rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th People's Congress of Henan Province reviewed and approved the "Henan Province Inland Waterway Shipping Regulations" (referred to as the "Regulations"), which will take effect on July 1. This is Henan's first comprehensive and systematic local regulation in the field of inland waterway shipping.

　　The "Regulations" propose that Henan's waterway planning should follow the principles of overall consideration, comprehensive utilization, and ecological protection; port planning should be appropriately forward-looking, taking into account factors such as industrial layout, port resource conditions, ecological environment protection, and the development of multimodal transport. The Henan transportation authorities should strengthen the promotion and application of information technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, integrate data resources related to waterway monitoring, port operations, waterway transportation, and management services, promote the digital and intelligent development of inland waterway shipping, and improve industry regulatory efficiency; promote new models of intelligent ship lock services and smart ship lock management, and advance cross-regional ship lock joint scheduling. The "Regulations" encourage port operators to advance the application of automation and intelligent technologies, innovate port data services, and enhance the intelligence level of production operations.

　　Focusing on development and support, the "Regulations" clarify that the Henan provincial government and its relevant departments should promote the sustainable development of inland waterway shipping, improve the development layout of waterways, ports, multimodal transport, and port-related industries, build a modern inland waterway shipping network compatible with the province's industrial layout, and create a convenient waterway channel for central China to access the sea, providing foundational support for integrating into and serving the unified national market. Relevant county-level and higher people's governments should support and guide port-related industrial projects based on local conditions, fully utilize port resources, plan and construct port industrial parks, build a modern port industrial system, and promote the integrated development of ports, industries, and cities.

　　According to the "Regulations," relevant county-level and higher people's governments and their departments should develop a multimodal transport system centered on ports, strengthen the planning and construction connections between ports and railways, highways, and aviation, promote efficient connectivity of infrastructure, and build a port collection, distribution, storage, and transportation system; promote the organic integration of inland waterway shipping with other modes of transportation, strengthen information resource sharing, and advance the unification of technical standards and service rules.