Duisburg revives on Chinese rail freight

DUISBURG, Germany - For decades, the city of Duisburg lying at the heartland of Germany's industrial Ruhr region, had struggled with a depression just like other heavy industry cities around the world that were experiencing a structural transformation.

But nowadays the world's biggest inland port is changing - the sites once used as steel mills have been turned into transport terminals. Trucks come and go around the cities and crane operators unload containers from freight trains and pile them up one above another.

"The freight services from China are really important for us," said Amelie Erxleben, a staff member with the Duisburg Intermodal Terminal, the biggest of the nine terminals of the Port of Duisburg.