In 1995, the sandy natural beach in Coronel was converted into a real export port by the construction of the first jetty and cargo warehouses. The existing shacks and community living on the beach were relocated to a completely new neighbourhood in Coronel with all facilities, such as water, electricity and financed by the new port.  

Coronel Port, owned by Chile’s largest forest products company Celulosa Arauco y Constitucion (Celco), Ultramar, Empresa Constructora Belfi and Fundo de Inversiones CMB Infrastructura, grew rapidly and the existing jetty with two berths was expanded to four berths in 2004, while the total throughput reached up to 2.5 million ton.  In addition to the jetty expansion, additional warehouses and rail way tracks were constructed and the port reached the configuration as still existed in 2008.

The total beach area along the coast line of the bay was paved for open storage, including nine covered warehouses (101 000m2) for the storage of wood and cellulose. The port area amounted to 34ha, the first jetty had four berths, about 400m long, a width of 41.5m and a water depth of maximum 13.5m.  

The community of Coronel city was often involved in the activities of the port. Besides that the port provided employment for a variety of inhabitants of Coronel, it also supported ample social activities in the city. Educational support to schools and to other institutes was quite common and yearly festivals were organised to involve the community in the activities of the port. 

In the first years of the 21st century, the port of Coronel had noticed a gradually change in the export market. The container market was growing faster than the export of breakbulk, such as the export of wood and cellulose. In 2007, plans were made to benefit of the growing container market and to add a modern container terminal to the port of Coronel.

However, this was easier said than done. The existing jetty was constructed for the handling of break-bulk and not for the handling of container and certainly not for large container cranes. In addition, the port area was sufficient for the current operations, but not for the storage and handling of containers. The requirements on the pavement structure for container operations are different than for the handling of break-bulk. In addition, the operational and management structure had to change to suit for a container terminal.

Competition in the 8th region (the province of Bio-Bio) to which Coronel belongs is strong. The major competitors of the Port of Coronel are the Port of Lirquen and the Port of San Vicente. Both ports are active in the field of export of forest products. Contrary to the Port of Coronel both competitors had already successfully started container activities.

In 2007, it was decided to become one of most modern container ports of the 8th  Region in Chile and the construction of a new jetty was started and two STS gantry container cranes from ZMPC in China were ordered.

In parallel, a large area of land was acquired, about three kilometres east of the port area (Manco). This land could serve as overflow area for the storage of containers. The idea was that the type of export products of the port of coronel would not change much when the container terminal became operational. Major export products from the region, such as wood, cellulose, fish and fruits would be stuffed in containers for export.  For that reason, the operational sequence on the terminal is that empty containers will be imported, stuffed and prepared for full export. Such operations require carefully planning and large areas for the stuffing and storage of containers.

The Rotterdam Maritime Group (RMG) was commissioned to prepare a port master plan and to provide technical expertise on the design of the Coronel Container Terminal. In 2009, according to this plan, the land construction such as pavement, lighting masts and offices were constructed.

The challenge in these plans was to create an efficient and cost saving container operation. The layout of the terminal and Manco is designed in such a way that driving distances are kept to a minimum and container moves are minimal. The Manco area is designed for amongst others, the storage of large amount of containers and for the stuffing of containers and it can boost the total annual capacity of the Coronel Container Terminal (CCT) of up to more than 350,000 TEU.  As the assistance of a sophisticated terminal IT system for the optimal control of information is a must for a modern terminal, such (CTIS-) system was purchased from HPC.

The second jetty (container jetty) in Coronel was finished in early 2009. By then, the Port has expanded by another 3 deep water berths dedicated for the handling of containers. The jetty is 400m long, 36 m wide and provides a water depth of 13m.

Delivered at the end of February 2009, the ZPMC STS gantry cranes went into service in April and handled the first panamax container vessel, MSC Andes, at the start of May 2009. The cranes, of more than 60 meters of height, have a lifting capacity of 60ton and a handling capacity of 40 containers per hour. In addition, they will allow the handling of Post Panamax vessels. This characteristic will increase the efficiency of the port and will give the possibility for the shipping industry of reducing its costs. Shipping lines including Mediterranean Shipping Company are keen to deploy larger tonnage in the south of the country where forest products play an important role in balancing trade between Chile and Asia.

At the end of May 2009, the port of Coronel has become the first of the three main ports in the region to employ ship-to-shore gantry cranes in response to a trend to containerize more cellulose and forest products.

As well as the two gantry cranes, the facility has acquired two mobile harbour cranes, ten reachstackers, four empty container handlers and 30 terminal tractors to create a facility with an annual capacity of more than 350,000 TEU. 

A total of US$75m has been invested to develop the dedicated container facility. The company hopes to move 150,000teu a year in the first year of operation and would allow to position, the port of Coronel as one of most important ports in the region.

Nevertheless, CCT also tries to contribute to the development of the regional exporting industry and to improve the level of the harbor sector of the zone, besides to generate new jobs. “We will give the shipping lines better efficiency through our export and import terminal of the last generation. We are convinced that this will boost the local industry and generate related services and job opportunities in the region," according to the General Manager of Port of Coronel, Alberto Miranda.