COSCO Shipping Lines

COSCO SHIPPING Lines Co., Ltd. (Chinese: 中远海运集运) is a Chinese international container transportation and shipping company. It is a subsidiary of COSCO Shipping Holdings, and its parent company is China's state-owned COSCO Shipping.

COSCO SHIPPING Lines Co., Ltd.
Native name
中远海运集装箱运输有限公司
TypeState-owned enterprise
IndustryMaritime transport, Container shipping
Founded2016 (2016)
Headquarters
Shanghai
,
China
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Yanghao Zhijian (CEO)
ProductsContainer shipping
ParentCOSCO Shipping Holdings
Websitelines.coscoshipping.com

History

In April 1961 China's Ministry of Communications established China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) as a state-owned ocean shipping enterprise in Beijing. In 1964 China Ocean Shipping Co. established a subsidiary in Shanghai, COSCO Shanghai, which later specialized in container shipping.

Container ship COSCO Hamburg, San Francisco, California, 2007

In 1978, COSCO Shanghai's MV Ping Xiang Cheng transported 162 TEU from Shanghai to Sydney, Australia, which was the first international container voyage by a Chinese company.[1]: 56 [2][3][1][4] Thereafter, COSCO Shanghai commenced a monthly container service running two 200 TEU container ships between Shanghai, Xingang, Sydney, and Melbourne.

In 1982 COSCO Shanghai began regular trans-Pacific container services and in 1983 COSCO Shanghai started a new container trade route connecting Tianjin Port and Shanghai with ports in West Europe.[2]

CSCL container at a warehouse loading dock.

In 1994, COSCO Container Line Limited (COSCON), was formed to conduct COSCO's container operations in collaboration with regional subsidiaries such as the Shanghai branch. In November 1997, COSCON merged with COSCO Shanghai and became the sole container shipping subsidiary of COSCO.[2][5][6] That same year, the Chinese government founded the SOE China Shipping Group along with its container shipping subsidiary, China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL).

CSCL grew its business rapidly under the leadership of shipping industry veteran, Captain Li Kelin. The company saw its TEU market share increase 126% between 2000 and 2006, and by 2007 it became the sixth largest container transportation company in the world in terms of fleet capacity.

COSCON established local offices and agencies in 160 countries. In North America, the company built a large intermodal network by investing in thousands of marine container chassis and contracting with trucking companies and major North American railroads.[7] Likewise, CSCL developed a large intermodal network in the US, and in 2001 BNSF Railway announced a new double-stack service to transport China Shipping containers from the Port of Los Angeles to the BNSF Chicago yards.

In July 2007, COSCON named the 10,000 TEU COSCO Asia at HHI shipyard in Ulsan. It was the largest container ship in COSCO's fleet at the time and the company later took delivery of three other 10,000 TEU ships. The 10,000 TEU vessels were highly automated and classed by Lloyd's Register to the highest environmental safety standards.[8]

By December 2013, the trans-Pacific service generated the most revenue for COSCON, RMB 14.2 million.[9] Meanwhile, by May 2014 CSCL operated 40 overseas routes with a fleet of 148 container ships representing 656,000 TEU.

COSCO SHIPPING Lines
COSCO SHIPPING container in transport on an intermodal freight train

In March 2016 the parent company of COSCON, COSCO Group, merged with the parent company of CSCL, China Shipping Group. Before the merger, COSCON and CSCL were the largest and second largest container lines in China, respectively.[1] As a result of the merger, COSCON acquired the assets of CSCL and was renamed COSCO SHIPPING Lines. Meanwhile, CSCL acquired the container leasing subsidiaries of China Shipping Group and COSCO Group, and became a container leasing company. The newly created COSCO Shipping Lines has 502 container ships with 3.0 million TEU. The company has 255 international routes, calling at 356 ports in 105 countries.,[10] COSCO SHIPPING Lines has ordered several mega-ships, such as the 20,000 TEU COSCO Shipping Taurus and the 21,000 TEU Universe-class container ships.

On June 26, 2016, COSCO Shipping Panama became the first vessel to sail through the newly widened Panama Canal.[11][12] Over 5,000 people attended the event.[13]

COSCO SHIPPING Nebula at Euromax terminal, December 17, 2019

From 1997, COSCON was a member of the CKYHE alliance, a pooling agreement to share vessel space with "K" Line, Yang Ming, Hanjin, and Evergreen. Meanwhile, CSCL was a member of the Ocean Three Alliance along with CMA CGM and UASC. After the 2016 COSCO-China Shipping merger, COSCO SHIPPING Lines formed a new 5-year vessel-sharing contract, the Ocean Alliance, along with CMA CGM, OOCL, and Evergreen.[14][15]

On July 24, 2018, COSCO SHIPPING Lines reported a cyber attack to its operations in the United States, Canada, and South America.[16][17][18] COSCO later reported that the attack caused minimal disruption to its operations.[19]

In 2018, COSCO SHIPPING Holdings acquired Hong Kong-based OOIL, the parent of OOCL, for US$6.3 billion.[20][21]

In 2021, COSCO became one of the first global shipping companies to utilize the blockchain-enabled efficiency improvement application Cargo Release.[22]

Cosco has a terminal at Abu Dhabis new Khalifa Port. This terminal is also the first port in the middle East to have automatic port truck system. [23]

Fleet
Container ship classes of COSCO SHIPPING Lines
Ship class Built Capacity (TEU) Ships in class Notes
Glory-class 2011-2012 13,114 8 Long-term charter from Seaspan Corporation
Star-class 2011-2012 14,074 8 Originally built for China Shipping Container Lines
Globe class 2014-2015 18,982 5 Originally built for China Shipping Container Lines
Belgium-class 2013-2014 13,386 8
Himalayas-class 2017-2018 14,566 5
Peony-class 2018-2019 13,800 8 Originally built for China Shipping Container Lines
Constellation-class 2018-2019 19,237-20,119 11
Universe-class 2018-2019 21,237 6 Originally built for China Shipping Container Lines
2023–onwards 14,092 6 To be built by COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Yangzhou)[24]
2023–onwards 16,180 4 To be built by COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Yangzhou)[24]
2023–onwards 23,000 6 To be built by COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Yangzhou)[25]
2023–onwards 15,000 9 To be built by COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Yangzhou)[25]
2027–onwards 24,000 5 Dalian Cosco KHI Ship Engineering[26]

Accidents and incidents

COSCO Asia

In September 2013, the container ship COSCO Asia was attacked by terrorists as it transited the Suez Canal. The attackers reportedly used machine guns and RPG launchers to fire at the ship. Egyptian security forces quelled the attack and the ship sustained only minor damage.[27][28]

COSCO Hope

On March 2, 2016, the container ship COSCO Hope crashed into a gantry crane as it was leaving the Suez Canal Container Terminal in Egypt's Port Said. Several cranes collapsed or become damaged, and stacks of containers were knocked over and causing a fire.[29]

COSCO Shipping Leo

On March 29, 2018, the container ship COSCO Shipping Leo collided with the cargo ship MERCURY TRIUMPH loaded with steel in the East China Sea during sea trials. The MERCURY TRIUMPH cargo ship was seriously damaged, and the starboard of the Leo ship's bow on COSCO Shipping Leo was damaged. There were 150 people on COSCO SHIPPING LEO at the time, but there were no casualties.[30]

COSCO Shipping Leo in the port of Rotterdam

COSCO Shipping Virgo

On 24 December 2021, the container ship COSCO Shipping Virgo sustained propulsion loss off Portugal when on route to Rotterdam. The ship was adrift for over three hours before resume the voyage.[31]

See also

References
  1. Zhang, Wenxian; Alon, Ilan (2010). A Guide to the Top 100 Companies in China. Singapore: World Scientific. pp. 55–59. ISBN 978-9814291460.
  2. "COSCON, About Us". Archived from the original on 19 August 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  3. Yang, Dong; Liu, Qing; Jiang, Liping; Zhang, Wei; Chu, Wenrong (2019). Duru, Okan (ed.). Maritime Business and Economics - Asian Perspectives. Abingdon, Oxford: Routledge. ISBN 9781138282124.
  4. Howard, Michael (2011). Transnationalism and Society - An Introduction. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978-0-7864-6454-8.
  5. COSCO, About, History Archived 25 February 2003 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Shi, Yan; Stringer, Christina; Lan Ge, Gloria (2013). Ramburuth, Prem; Stringer, Christina; Serapio, Manuel (eds.). Dynamics of International Business - Asia-Pacific Business Cases. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107675469.
  7. Railway, Canadian National (September 4, 2019). "CN and COSCO Shipping Lines Extend Intermodal Partnership". GlobeNewswire News Room.
  8. "Container Ship Christened at COSCO". MarineLink. July 31, 2007. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  9. "COSCON: Facts and Figures". www.coscon.com. Archived from the original on April 14, 2015.
  10. "COSCO SHIPPING Lines, About Us". Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  11. "China Cosco's Ship 1st to Sail the Expanded Panama Canal". Offshore Energy. May 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  12. Labrut, Michele (June 26, 2016). "Cosco Shipping Panama starts historic transit of expanded Panama Canal". Seatrade Maritime News. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  13. "The Inaugural Sail of M.V. COSCO SHIPPING PANAMA through the Expanded Panama Canal" (Press release). China COSCO SHIPPING Corporation. June 27, 2016. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  14. Knowler, Greg (April 20, 2016). "Container shipping's new Ocean Alliance is born". JOC.com. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  15. "COSCO Container Lines, CMA CGM, Evergreen Line and Orient Overseas Container Line to establish OCEAN Alliance" (Press release). Shanghai. COSCO SHIPPING Lines. April 20, 2016. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  16. "Cosco Reports Cyberattack at its U.S. Operations". The Maritime Executive. July 25, 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  17. "COSCO Shipping Lines Falls Victim to Cyber Attack". Offshore Energy. 25 July 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  18. Mongelluzzo, Bill (July 24, 2018). "Cosco responds to cyber attack on US operations". JOC.com. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  19. Mongelluzzo, Bill (July 30, 2018). "Cosco's pre-cyber attack efforts protected network". JOC.com. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  20. "China's Cosco Shipping Holdings completes OOCL acquisition". oevz.com. August 6, 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  21. Jiang, Jason (July 26, 2018). "Cosco completes OOCL takeover". Splash 247.com. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  22. Ajdin, Adis (July 21, 2021), Global Shipping Business Network launches blockchain solution in China, Splash247, retrieved September 11, 2021
  23. "CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal and Khalifa Port Implement Region's First Autonomous Port Truck System". YouTube.
  24. "COSCO invests US$1.5 billion in ten new vessels". Container News. 2021-07-16. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  25. "COSCO Shipping eyeing methanol for new round of ship orders". Container News. 2022-09-16. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
  26. "COSCO places orders for 12 methanol-powered giant ships". Container News. 2022-10-31. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
  27. "Ship attack foiled in Suez Canal". Al Jazeera. September 1, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  28. "Cosco Asia struck by RPG". Splash247.com. September 3, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  29. "Mega COSCO HOPE allided with crane, 20 plus containers destroyed by fire, Port Said". FleetMon.com. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
  30. "World's largest container ship, Cosco Shipping Leo, collided and almost sinking with 150 onboard". SeaNews Turkey| International Shipping Magazine. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
  31. "COSCO's mega container ship suffers propulsion loss off Portugal". Container News. 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
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