Hengyang cements role as southern Hunan's multimodal gateway

The construction site of  Hengyang International Logistics Port. [Photo/WeChat account: hngsgl]

Southern Hunan's Hengyang has secured five of the 20 premium multimodal transport routes designated by the Hunan provincial government in late May, spanning international corridors, industrial logistics, oversized equipment, hazardous chemicals and cold chain.

The five routes cover distinct needs. The "Hunan-Guangdong-Africa" rail-sea corridor links Hengyang South Railway Station to Nansha Port in Guangzhou, shipping onward to Africa and Latin America, with Hengyang as an auxiliary hub. Other routes handle ultra-high-voltage transformers and wind turbine blades, nonferrous metals and new materials, salt-brine chemicals via specialized containers, and cold-chain goods such as citrus and prepared dishes.

Hengyang's industrial base underpins these routes. Its salt-brine chemical cluster, developed over three decades, was recognized as a national SME cluster in 2024. TBEA Hengyang Transformer is a global manufacturing and export base for large ultra-high-voltage products. Hengyang Valin Steel Tube ranks among the world's top five seamless steel tube producers. Minmetals Copper (Hunan) fills a key gap in the province's copper smelting capacity.

Geographically, Hengyang sits at the intersection of the Beijing-Guangzhou corridor and the Hunan-Guangxi line, connecting the Greater Bay Area and ASEAN. It has 877 kilometers of expressways, and all 12 county-level divisions lie within a half-hour expressway circle, supporting its national land-port logistics hub status.

The Hengyang International Logistics Port, with a planned investment of 18 billion yuan ($2.51 billion), is scheduled to open by 2027. It will integrate road, rail and water transport, reinforcing Hengyang's role as a logistics gateway for southern Hunan.