Chongqing, the world's largest municipality, is facing a new round of opportunities for shipping development, despite the current downturn in the market, according to Tan Jianqiang, president of Chongqing Heniu Ro-Ro Ship Transportation, an integrated shipping company that provides container, bulk and roro shipping services on the Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world.

Tan says that the economic influences from southwest China has been increasing in the past few years, the central government has also put the development of Yangtze River Economic Belt as one of the key focuses in the latest five year plan.

Chongqing, as the transportation hub in the region, has great advantages for shipping development.

"Currently Chongqing is making efforts to develop the city into an intermodal shipping hub for the upstream Yangtze River. Plans to upgrade the port terminals are also on the cards, which will facilitate the development of the industry," Tan says.

"Thanks to the fast development of Chongqing Port, there is growing demand for roro shipping services. More and more shippers choose to ship their cars from and to Chongqing on the water instead of land," Tan says.

In the first ten months of 2015, Chongqing Port handled a record of 209,000 cars, up 36.3% year-on-year.

Tan reckons that one of the major issues in the market now is still overcapacity, and he admits the profit of the company has sharply declined due to the continued downturn in the market.

"In the current situation, we have done many measures including cost control and fleet optimisation to avoid from suffering losses," Tan says.

Tan is confident that the market will get better in the near future. "There are only bankrupt companies, but no bankrupt industry," he says with optimism. "What is really important is that the company is ready when the market comes back."