Huainan City is focusing on its “One Port, Seven Zones” port layout to fully develop a Yangtze River–Huaihe River shipping hub.

Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," Huainan City's water transport development has achieved remarkable results. Leveraging the advantages of national strategic overlays, it has made comprehensive breakthroughs in channel upgrades, port rise, green transformation, and economic empowerment, making waterway transportation the "lifeline artery" of the regional economy. This has achieved a historic leap from "inland hinterland" to "shipping hub," laying a solid foundation for high-quality urban transformation. Huainan City coordinates port layout, accelerates project construction, cultivates emerging industries, and strengthens safety and environmental protection, fully building the Huainan Huaihe River shipping hub. Huainan Port has gradually become an important hub port for Jianghuai shipping in northern Anhui and southeastern Henan.

Consolidate the hardware foundation of water transport. Continuously improve port and channel facilities, with 9 main rivers within the territory and a total channel mileage of 396.6 kilometers. The "one vertical and one horizontal" golden waterways of the Huaihe River and Jianghuai Canal run through the entire region, with a secondary channel mileage exceeding 200 kilometers, capable of navigating 2000-ton ships. The city has 7 major port areas, 15 operating terminals, and 35 berths of 500 tons and above, with 1,195 operating vessels and a total transport capacity of over 3.18 million deadweight tons. Last year, the port throughput reached 18.49 million tons, ranking first among port cities along the Huai River in the province.

Comprehensive port planning layout. Organize a new round of port planning, namely the "Huainan Port Master Plan (2035)" compilation work, accelerate the approval process, and promote the construction of the Huainan Huaihe River shipping hub, forming an overall "one port, seven areas" port layout to create a collaborative and efficient port group; expand port logistics, trade, finance, information, and other services in Fengtai Port Area, Shouxian Port Area, and Bagongshan Port Area to match the port industry, relying on port construction to build logistics centers, promote the aggregation of element resources, and serve the upgrading of the port industry.

Accelerate water transport project construction. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, a total of about 2 billion yuan in fixed asset investment in water transport was completed, ranking among the top three in the province. Key terminal projects such as the supporting terminal of Anhui Coal Chemical (Huainan) Base and Datong Pearl Comprehensive Terminal were successfully completed; 8 port projects under construction, including Fengtai New Port Comprehensive Terminal and Shouxian Xinqiao Comprehensive Terminal, with a total investment of over 6 billion yuan, are progressing steadily.

Strengthen safety and environmental protection rectification. All 14 port enterprises in the city have achieved full coverage of ship pollutant reception facilities and shore power, implementing the "should be received, fully received" policy for ship pollutants, maintaining a 100% pollutant reception and disposal rate. Strengthen water traffic safety control, carry out special law enforcement actions in the transportation field, merge and integrate weak ferry crossings, and eliminate ferry safety hazards.

Promote green and intelligent development. Focus on the advantages of methanol and hydrogen production capacity, layout ship design, supporting equipment manufacturing, maintenance, and recycling, forming a characteristic supporting industrial base; compile the "Huainan City Green Ship Industry Development Plan (2026-2030)" to promote the orderly implementation of LNG, electric power, and other new energy ship projects. The first water service area and the first new energy ship on the Huaihe River are about to be put into operation in Huainan, and the first water garbage reception ship, Huaihe Environmental Protection No. 1, has been put into use; promote the scrapping and renewal of old ships, complete the dismantling task of more than 160 ships within the year, and simultaneously guide the replacement of new energy ships, increasing the proportion of standardized ship types. Assist in promoting the informatization construction of the Huaihe River channel, installing and constructing 3 smart channel monitoring systems; complete the installation of video monitoring systems for 10 ferries and 8 ferry crossings in the city, achieving intelligent control of ferry safety.

Correspondent Zhang Bo