THE world's fifth largest ocean carrier, Hapag-Lloyd, has set up a representative office in Chongqing, a south western city on the Yangtze River, Xinhua reported.
Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, MSC, CMA-CGM and Evergreen have already established offices in the city, and industry analysts said these shipping giants will help Chongqing become a container hub in western China, which will lead to fiercer competition between Chongqing and Chengdu.
From January to October, Chongqing Port Logistics Group handled more than 300,000 TEU, an increase of 30 per cent over the same period a year ago. Forty per cent of this cargo was transshipments from the city's neighbouring regions.
In September, Maersk signed letter of intent with Chongqing Port Logistics Group agreeing to transship all its containers in the region via the Cuntan Port Area.
Before setting up representative office, Minsheng International Freight Forwarding Company was the authorised freight forwarder for Hapag-Lloyd. An unnamed assistant manager from the company said Hapag-Lloyd's business has been growing fast during the two years since it entered Chongqing and has caught up with its rivals in the city.