Photo: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, 2014.
CRIntermodal Chongqing Terminal opened in 2009 at a site about 20 km from downtown Chongqing, which is a provincial municipality independent of the surrounding Sichuan Province. It was built on a railway substation converted into an intermodal terminal with a capacity (first phase) of about 350,000 TEU. It is owned and operated by CRIntermodal, which is a company owned by the Chinese Ministry of Railways and includes 18 facilities in China. Shareholders are NWS of Hong Kong and DB Railways of Germany. This is part of a strategy to develop intermodal transportation within China and better connect its ports and the hinterland.
The Chongqing intermodal terminal has emerged as an inland port with several nearby greenfield logistics zones under development, such as Chongqing Logistics City. Most of the cargo handling is domestic and with standard 20-foot boxes, with direct connections to the ports of Yantian and Shanghai. In 2013, rail services started to be offered to the inland port of Duisburg, Germany.