On the afternoon of September 24, 2026, a container ship arrived at the Cai Cui wharf in Can Tho City. It was a service that came from Nanning port in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, through the Binh Luc Canal. What it carried in was 153 containers of general goods. And what the Vietnamese side is to load for the return leg is said to be 80 containers of rice bran.
For Japanese food and raw-material staff buying raw material from the Mekong Delta, this first voyage is not a story of 'a new shipping route to Japan being created.'China's southwest has lined up at a seven-day waterway distance from the Mekong's loading point— that is the story. Because it is a change on the side where one more buyer is added, misreading it delays your response.
The first voyage from China arrived at the Cai Cui wharf; the cargo was 153 containers of general goods
The hosts were three parties: Can Tho Port, VIMC and the Beibu Gulf Port Group
The ceremony was held by three parties: Can Tho Port Joint Stock Company, the Vietnam National Shipping Lines (VIMC), and China's Beibu Gulf Port Group (Tập đoàn Cảng Vịnh Bắc Bộ). In attendance were Le Cong Ly, standing vice-chairman of the Can Tho City People's Committee, Nguyen Dinh Viet, deputy director of the Vietnam Maritime and Inland Waterways Administration, and Duong Mieu, commercial counselor of the Chinese Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City.
The ship that handled the first voyage was the BBG Nan Ning Bo Run, Panama-flagged. By VIMC's announcement, it was built in 2021, is 100 meters long and 22 meters wide, with a deadweight of 4,900 DWT. It is a river-sea vessel (tàu container sông biển) that runs on rivers and coastal waters.
General goods on the outbound leg, rice bran loaded on the return
The cargo differs in character in the two directions. The outbound leg from Nanning port was 153 containers of general goods (hàng bách hóa tổng hợp) — that is, import cargo into Vietnam. On the return leg from Can Tho to China, 80 containers of rice bran (cám gạo) are said to be shipped, but this is a plan as of the 24th, not a record of having arrived in China. The understanding of 'a ship carrying rice and fruit to China' does not apply to the first voyage.
Voyage count, ship type and 25% refrigerated — the figures out now are from the operating plan
A 4,900 DWT, about 500 TEU river-sea vessel, twice a month, seven days one way
The published operating conditions are two voyages a month, a seven-day voyage, a deadweight of 4,900 DWT, and a maximum load in the operating plan of about 500 TEU. However, Can Tho City's local paper and VIMC write these conditions as 'sẽ triển khai (will be implemented)' and 'dự kiến (planned).' They are not a record of a regular route having started turning but planned values at the stage where the first voyage has arrived.
| Item | Details | Record or plan |
|---|---|---|
| Origin and terminus | Nanning port (Guangxi) → Can Tho Port, Cai Cui wharf | Record |
| Operation of the first voyage | September 16, 2026 (the same day the canal began operation) | Record |
| First voyage's cargo handling and vessel used | Afternoon of September 24 / BBG Nan Ning Bo Run (Panama-flagged, 4,900 DWT) | Record |
| Voyage count and duration | Two voyages a month, seven days one way | Plan |
| Load and refrigerated ratio | Up to about 500 TEU, 25% refrigerated, 75% dry | Plan |
| First voyage's cargo | Outbound 153 containers of general goods / return 80 containers of rice bran | Outbound is a record, return is a plan |
The refrigerated allocation works out to 125 TEU per voyage, or 250 TEU a month
The 25% refrigerated and 75% dry is also an assumption in the operating plan. If it goes as planned, one voyage's refrigerated allocation is 500 TEU × 25% = 125 TEU, and with two voyages a month it comes to 250 TEU (a simple calculation from published values).
Vice-chairman Ly explains that Can Tho Port's container throughput was 12,665 TEU in the first half of 2026, up 162.49% year on year. Since that averages about 2,100 TEU a month, the 250 TEU monthly refrigerated allocation amounts, in scale terms, to a bit over 10% of that (the writer's division). However, 250 TEU is a one-way slot plan and 12,665 TEU is the port's throughput record; they are not figures that line up as is.
Why the Binh Luc Canal brought the Mekong and Guangxi closer
The canal's start of operation and the first voyage both on September 16
The Binh Luc Canal (Kênh đào Bình Lục; Chinese name, the Pinglu Canal) is a waterway linking the Xi River (Tay Giang) system with the Gulf of Tonkin, creating one more direct outlet to the sea for Guangxi and China's southwest. According to Can Tho City's local paper, the canal formally entered operation on September 16, 2026, and on the same day the direct Nanning–Can Tho foreign-trade route operated its first voyage. Because the cargo handling at Cai Cui was on the afternoon of the 24th, counting from the 16th comes to eight days. The published voyage duration is seven days.
China says it is 560 km shorter than detouring via the Pearl River
Ho Hoa Binh, chairman of the Beibu Gulf Port Group, said that via the canal the inland-waterway leg becomes more than 560 km shorter than going around the Pearl River, transport time shrinks by 7–10 days, and total logistics cost falls 18–30%. It is the operator's explanation, not a figure verified by a third party. According to VIMC's announcement, the trade value between Guangxi and Vietnam in 2025 exceeded 300 billion yuan (about US$44.7 billion) for the first time, and Vietnam has been Guangxi's largest trading partner for 27 consecutive years.
The August 4 trial voyage departed not from Nanning but from Qinzhou
This route has a prelude. On August 4, 2026, the M/V Li Da Tong 2 Hao Qinzhou port berthed at the Cai Cui wharf from there and carried 66 containers of Mekong Delta farm produce to the Guangxi market. It was a trial voyage to verify cargo handling, coordination and demand. The 66 containers were reported as over 1,780 tonnes, which comes to about 27 tonnes per container (the writer's division).
The trial voyage's origin was coastal Qinzhou, but this voyage's origin is inland Nanning. With the canal open, the loading point moved up from the coastline inland. That is the difference between August and September.
What Japanese procurement staff should watch is not the outbound but the return leg
The meaning of rice bran being planned for the return leg
There is meaning in the cargo planned for the return leg being rice bran. Rice bran is a raw material for rice oil and animal feed; its unit price is low but the volume comes together and it needs no temperature control. It is easy to choose as ballast to fill the new route's return leg. It can be read as a bulk raw material being named first.
Whether high-value-added fruit and seafood ride this route hinges on whether the refrigerated allocation is actually used. Vice-chairman Ly instructed the operating side to make direct sales to each shipper group — rice, farm produce, seafood and processed goods — and noted that only when cargo in both directions is lined up does the ship's schedule stabilize. VIMC deputy general director Le Quang Trung also cites 'balance of cargo in both directions' as one of the three pillars of stable operation.
The city's vice-chairman instructed that refrigerated handling is a task to strengthen
Vice-chairman Ly went one step further, asking the companies operating the route and their partners that, as long as they handle agricultural and aquatic products, they need to raise their refrigerated-container handling capacity and pay attention to handover times. Because it takes the form of an instruction from the administration to the operating side, it is reasonable to read refrigerated handling as being at a stage still to be put in place.
Staff sourcing frozen and chilled goods for Japan should re-examine how many hours it takes from the supplier's plant to which port, and whether the reefer plugs are at the plant side or the port side. In durian sorting, the discussion of matching the share of Grade-A against the factory's equipment as there, it becomes the work of looking at a supplier by its cargo-handling equipment rather than the growing area's name.
Will the loading for Japan stay at Ho Chi Minh and Cai Mep?
12,665 TEU in half a year, up 162% year on year
Can Tho Port's total cargo handled in 2025 was over 3.14 million tonnes, and containers in the first half of 2026 were 12,665 TEU. It is an order of magnitude different from Ho Chi Minh and Cai Mep. According to VIMC, Can Tho Port already has container routes with Ho Chi Minh and Cai Mep–Vung Tau.
Because Can Tho stays at the stage of having connecting routes to Ho Chi Minh and Cai Mep, the Nanning service does not directly shorten the lead time for Japan. What works is a different path. One more reason for Mekong cargo to gather at Can Tho is added, and the port's cargo handling, refrigeration equipment and customs practice are honed.
| Indicator | Figure | Point in time and source |
|---|---|---|
| Can Tho Port total cargo handled | Over 3.14 million tonnes | 2025 |
| Can Tho Port container throughput | 12,665 TEU (up 162.49% year on year) | First half of 2026, explained by Vice-chairman Ly |
| Export cargo of the August trial voyage | 66 containers of farm produce, over 1,780 tonnes | August 4, 2026, departing Qinzhou port |
| Guangxi–Vietnam trade value | Over 300 billion yuan (about US$44.7 billion) | 2025, Guangxi-side statistics |
How buying competition moves when Guangxi comes within a seven-day waterway
Where the impact appears soonest is in how procurement prices and quantities are secured. Buyers in China's southwest gain one means of moving Mekong raw material in consolidated volumes while avoiding congestion at the land border. Two voyages a month is not many, but because it is a river-sea vessel, the unit cost per voyage is easy to hold below land transport. The Japanese side, looking at the same fields and the same factories, should factor in the possibility of being bumped down the queue when a supplier takes on fixed-volume shipments for China.
What makes it complicated is that, even as the Vietnamese agricultural industry's discussion heads toward diversifying export markets, logistics is moving in the direction of strengthening ties with China. durian, for which correcting dependence on China is a challenge Even for commodities like it, China remains advantaged in ease of carriage. The question of whether port-infrastructure development works in favor of Japanese purchasing is the World Bank's modernization of nine fishing ports the same as when reading about that: no answer emerges unless you look all the way to whose cargo the equipment prioritizes.
Three questions to confirm with suppliers within this week
The loading port and the location of the reefer plugs
If you deal with a supplier that has a plant in the Mekong Delta, first ask 'which port are current shipments trucked to.' Whether it is Can Tho or Ho Chi Minh divides whether this change concerns you. Next, if shipping frozen or chilled, confirm whether the reefer plugs are at the plant side or the port side.
Whether there is a plan for shipments to Guangxi to increase
The third is a pointed question, but it is best to ask whether there is a plan to load the Nanning service, and if so, what and how many containers will be shipped. If it is only by-products like rice bran, it does not compete with the main raw material for Japan. If there is a plan to load frozen fruit or seafood, the premise of next term's volume negotiation changes.
The next move is simple: send a short email to existing suppliers with manufacturing bases in the Mekong asking only these three points. Whether the route becomes regular will be known once the twice-monthly voyages start turning, but how a supplier views the new outlet toward China — ask now and an answer will come back.
