Chongqing Guoyuan terminal, the largest intermodal project on the Yangtze River, is expected to start a partial trial run by the end of this year, according to the Yangtze River Administration. The project, costing about Rmb10bn, is divided into two phases.

Phase one, consisting two berths for bulk and breakbulk with an annual handling capacity of 2m tons, was completed at the end of 2010. The second phase, to be completed by the end of this year, will comprise 14 container berths accommodating 5,000 dwt vessels and boasting a capacity of 2m TEU.

Four dedicated railway lines will be built within the terminal to link it with the Chongqing Container Hub, from where services are already running to take HP laptops to overseas markets in Europe.

PYI, the Hong Kong listed Yangtze port and infrastructure group, is said to have shown interest in investing in Guoyuan, but abandoned the idea as the global financial crisis took hold in 2008 and 2009.

Chongqing already has two major container facilities in Cuntan terminal and East terminal with a combined capacity of about 1m TEU. Neither terminal has railheads on the premises. The planned 8km rail line in Cuntan was axed because, at Rmb800m, it was deemed too expensive.

With Guoyuan’s completion date in sight, insiders believe that the city is seven or eight years ahead of schedule in terms of container capacity. According to statistics from Chongqing Statistics Bureau, container throughput for the whole of Chongqing municipality was 746,000 TEU last year.