Water transportation plays a pivotal role in economic development. As China's high-quality development reaches broader and deeper dimensions, inland regions have been actively strengthening inland waterway shipping in recent years, seeking to break geographical constraints and better integrate into new development patterns while revitalizing regional economies through upgraded water transport corridors.

Huaiyuan County, a traditional agricultural county in northern Anhui, has proposed the strategic goal of building a "Northern Anhui Shipping Center," aiming to awaken its "shipping genes" and inject new momentum into county-level development.

What gives Huaiyuan this confidence? The answer lies in its history and geographical location.

Huaiyuan is located in the middle reaches of the Huai River, where the main Huai River channel and nine other waterways including the Guo River and Cihuai New River intersect, forming a natural water transport network. In the past, Huaiyuan fishermen lived on boats, with many engaged in water transportation, struggling to make a living amid the waves.

Leveraging the economic boom in the Yangtze River Delta and coastal regions, these families supported each other through mentorship, gradually moving to operate ships on the Yangtze River, coastal areas, and even overseas routes, forming shipping dynasties and completing the transformation from "making a living" to "conquering markets."

In recent years, the government has vigorously promoted high-quality development of inland waterway shipping. With the full opening of the Jianghuai Canal, Anhui is also actively deploying high-quality construction of the Jianghuai trunk waterway corridor, promoting optimized coordination among ports along the route and networked capacity expansion of waterways, bringing major opportunities for regions like Huaiyuan in northern Anhui to leverage water transport for revitalization.

Against this backdrop, Huaiyuan County has established a shipping association, launched policy packages, and piloted comprehensive service halls, targeting bottlenecks constraining the development of such productive service industries. Through improving the business environment and clearing key links, these measures support rapid development of the shipping industry.

From the sound of oars by Huai River fishing families to the whistles of new energy ship fleets, in this transformation from "living by water" to "prospering through water," Huaiyuan County's generations-old "wave-riding" spirit is quietly converting into distinctive industrial momentum for county development.

**Shipping DNA**

"With the shipping association's support, all 5 million yuan in loans have been secured. Now we can focus on building new energy ships!" Recently, He Hengda, chairman of Anhui Zhongheng Shipping Co., Ltd., has been leading his team in intensive new ship design work, as this enterprise with deep shipping roots enters the fast lane of green transformation.

He Hengda's family represents a vivid example of Huaiyuan's shipping industry development. His ancestors operated oars and pulled boats on the Huai River, starting from scratch with small wooden boats; his father's generation worked hard to upgrade the fleet to cement ships; in 1997, 17-year-old He Hengda followed his father to Shanghai, starting with grain transportation ship by ship.

Through hardship and sweat, the business expanded to the Yangtze River and coastal areas, with routes extending north to Dalian and south to Guangxi, upgrading cargo to large equipment and iron ore. Today, Zhongheng Shipping owns 5 modern vessels totaling 17,000 deadweight tons and more than 30 crew members, becoming a backbone force in local shipping.

"Our goal this year is very clear: to build a new energy fleet specifically serving cargo transportation in the Yangtze River basin," He Hengda said.

Huaiyuan County, located in the northern Anhui plain, was born by water and prospered through water. The Huai River and Guo River flow through the territory, forming a natural water network. Historically, ancient riverside towns like Longkang and Heliu saw bustling boat traffic and prosperous commerce. During the War of Resistance, local shipowners fearlessly provided transportation convenience for the New Fourth Army.

The mighty Huai River flows endlessly. Fleets from Huaiyuan brave waves and sail toward the broader Yangtze River, coastal areas, and even overseas. Currently, Huaiyuan County has gathered 118 shipping enterprises operating 1,502 vessels with total capacity of 4.359 million tons, ranking among the top counties in Anhui in terms of number of shipping enterprises, vessels, and deadweight tonnage.

"County-level development competition is fierce, and the shipping industry is Huaiyuan's key track for future competition. We are fully awakening the 'shipping genes' deeply rooted in our blood, leveraging water system resources and shipping enterprise scale to promote high-quality development of the shipping industry according to local conditions, injecting strong momentum into regional economy," said a relevant county government official.

The county is working to build a competitive modern shipping service ecosystem by improving policy systems, strengthening fiscal guidance, and enhancing comprehensive service guarantee capabilities. It is also accelerating cultivation of leading shipping enterprises that are large-scale, have extensive routes, advanced technology, and strong risk resistance, building the "Huaiyuan Shipping" brand.

**Financial Support**

Walking into Huaiyuan County's shipping government and business comprehensive service hall, windows for finance, taxation, and insurance are orderly arranged. "In the past, we had to make special trips to the city just to renew a certificate. Now the county can handle it on our behalf, saving us so much trouble," said Wang Man, a financial officer at Huaiyuan County Guoyan Shipping Co., Ltd.

"Most shipping enterprises in Huaiyuan are family-style businesses, commonly facing 'growing pains' such as distant administrative processes, scattered management, and financing difficulties," Song Ge, director of the safety office at Huaiyuan County Transportation Bureau, told reporters.

According to Anhui Province regulations, local inland maritime affairs can only be authorized to prefecture-level cities. "To reduce enterprise travel, we piloted the service hall in June this year, specifically providing collection and transfer, remote assistance, and dedicated agency services for shipping enterprises, becoming the first county-level entity in the province to achieve 'unified acceptance and local certification' for inland maritime affairs, efficiently integrating dozens of services including inland vessel registration, enterprise registration, and legal consultation."

Financing difficulties once troubled many shipping enterprises. Qian Deshuang, head of Anhui Province Huaiyuan County Yuanshun Shipping Co., Ltd., who has been operating in the middle and lower Yangtze River for over 10 years, deeply understands this: "Financing has been the biggest pain point in recent years."

Old Qian started with a single cement boat and now owns more than 80 various vessels, establishing stable cooperation with Anshan Iron & Steel and extending business to Dubai, yet he was trapped by long payment cycles and narrow financing channels.

In November last year, at Huaiyuan County's "Business-Government Dialogue," Yuanshun Shipping's development pain points were put on the table. After Qian Deshuang reported the difficulties on-site, coordinated efforts by multiple departments successfully secured a loan approval. "With this funding, our fleet's green upgrade can finally move forward!" Old Qian excitedly stated.

Behind enterprises being able to "get loans and get them quickly" is a multi-level financial support system at work. The Huaiyuan Shipping Association, established last year, has become a bridge connecting "banks and enterprises."

"Previously, loan limits were 10 million yuan with approval taking nearly two months," said Shi Changyun, chairman of Anhui Shungang Shipping Co., Ltd. With the association's assistance, the enterprise secured 20 million yuan in loans, filling the funding gap for purchasing additional container ships. "Now the maximum amount can reach 50 million yuan with faster approval, which is crucial for enterprise expansion."

Around credit, business environment, and legal services, Huaiyuan County has also introduced several measures, particularly establishing a 200 million yuan "whitelist" credit fund pool specifically providing ship mortgage loans for shipping enterprises at rates as low as 3.1% for up to 10 years. In the first half of this year, the county's shipping loan balance exceeded 1.159 billion yuan, a 93.4% year-on-year increase.

"Only with continuous financial support can shipping enterprises have the confidence to brave wind and waves!" said Fu Bushan, president of Huaiyuan Shipping Association.

The county will also study and formulate interest subsidy policies for new ship capacity loans, planning proportional interest subsidies for newly built ships meeting environmental and safety standards.

**Solving Growing Pains**

In the first half of this year, the Ministry of Transport and multiple departments successively issued the "Action Plan for Implementing Inland Waterway System Connectivity Engineering" and "Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Inland Navigation," injecting strong momentum into inland waterway development.

"Market demand converges with policy support, bringing new opportunities for the shipping industry, with cities along rivers competing for 'corridor economy,'" industry insiders noted. For Huaiyuan's shipping industry, converting unique resource endowments into sustainable development advantages still faces multiple practical challenges, "such as low waterway grades, insufficient port logistics service capacity, and increased enterprise technology upgrade costs under green and low-carbon requirements. Effectively overcoming these obstacles is key to realizing potential transformation."

To address challenges, Huaiyuan County is accelerating infrastructure improvement and talent support deployment: leveraging four waterways including Huai River mainstream, Guo River, Cihuai New River, and Huaihong New River, accelerating upgrade planning for 2.4 kilometers of port shoreline, steadily advancing key projects like Longkang operation area and port industrial park; launching professional training for shipping enterprise management talent in Shanghai, Nanjing and other cities within the year, and planning cooperation with Anhui Communications Technical College to establish "Northern Anhui Shipping Management Training Classes," leveraging vocational education centers to cultivate local applied talents and provide intellectual support for family-style enterprise modernization transformation.

"We are also actively seeking to establish the Northern Anhui Shipping Elements Market, guiding efficient convergence and value-added circulation of 'capital flow, business flow, data flow, talent flow' and upstream and downstream industrial chains," said a relevant county party committee official. The future will fully leverage overlapping advantages including Guo-Huai transit, Yangtze-to-Huai Water Diversion Project, Bengbu Tenghu Airport, highway networks, and bulk commodity distribution (such as glutinous rice), continuously improving infrastructure networks, strengthening industries through shipping and supporting industries through shipping, working toward building the "Northern Anhui Shipping Center" and constructing new highlands for opening-up.

From the perspective of business entities' own development, to grow stronger, they urgently need proactive transformation to adapt to market changes and industry trends. More Huaiyuan shipping enterprises are actively innovating operational models and optimizing service processes, accelerating transformation toward modern comprehensive logistics service providers.

Shi Changyun has extended his business scope to shipbuilding, showing ambition to advance upstream in the industrial chain. Meanwhile, Qian Deshuang's company has responded precisely to diversified market demands through cooperation with Jiangsu Taicang Port to operate "Tai-Shen Express" and "Suzhou Port Shuttle" water public barge express lines and provide ship leasing services.

"The course is clear, and sails are full. With internal and external forces working together, we expect to sail even further," Qian Deshuang said.