People’s Daily Online Hefei, November 26 (Reporter Miao Zijian) On November 24, the Pihe River Port terminal was a scene of bustling activity. One after another, cars manufactured in Anhui drove onto the “Hangtong 07” ro-ro ship, entered the Yangtze River via the Jianghuai Canal, and after reaching Shanghai, were transferred to ocean-going ro-ro ships for delivery worldwide.
In January 2025, the nation’s first “330” inland river ro-ro ship, custom-built by Anhui Port and Shipping Logistics Company, made its maiden voyage from Pihe River Port. As of November 12, 2025, Pihe River Port had completed 45 export ro-ro voyages, shipping 13,444 vehicles. Currently, Pihe River Port has opened direct routes from Hefei to Shanghai’s Waigaoqiao and Yangshan, serving automotive brands such as BYD, Jianghuai, Nio, and Anhui Volkswagen located near the port, helping automakers reduce costs and increase efficiency.
In recent years, the Anhui Provincial Port and Shipping Group has fully leveraged the advantages of the Yangtze River and the Jianghuai Canal within the province, coordinating the development of transportation models like river-sea direct transport and river-sea intermodal transport. Starting from ro-ro terminals and berths at ports within the province such as Wuhu Port, Anqing Port, and Hefei Port, they have expanded inland waterway ro-ro routes. By connecting with international ro-ro liner services through hub seaports like Shanghai and Taicang, they have basically formed a new pattern of water transport development characterized by “dual channels to the sea, two canals entering the river, and river-river-sea intermodal transport,” building a self-controlled logistics and transportation system to help reduce costs and increase efficiency for “Anhui Manufacturing.”
Furthermore, the Anhui Provincial Port and Shipping Group, Chery Automobile, and Jianghuai Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (JAC) jointly established Anhui Hangrui International Ro-ro Transport Co., Ltd., investing 20 billion yuan to build an ocean-going fleet. The first batch includes the construction of three “7000” car carrier LNG dual-fuel ocean-going ro-ro ships. The “Huanghu,” “Kunpeng,” and “Fenghuang” have successively been put into operation, achieving seamless connection between “inland river + ocean-going,” filling the gap for direct overseas ro-ro shipping of “Anhui-made” cars. Currently, the ocean-going shipping network already covers 56 hub ports in 33 countries worldwide.
