COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation has a total of 105 tankers, including nine LNGCs, amounting to 17.04 mill dwt. The asset value of the new company accounts for 11% of parent COSCO Shipping’s total assets.
COSCO Shipping chairman Xu Lirong said that the establishment of the new company was a practical way to achieve business scale and synergies particularly in the sectors of energy shipping and logistics, in order to better compete with other established global rivals.
“This move is also part of ongoing restructuring of state-owned enterprises,” Xu said at the inaugural meeting in Shanghai.“The group will use this new setup to strengthen its capabilities in shipping oil, gas and other energy resources to ensure China’s energy security.”
The new company was formed out of China Shipping Development Co and COSCO Dalian Ocean Shipping Co.
“COSCO Shipping’s new step will transform its businesses into a more diversified operation model that can take full advantage of the opportunities likely to come from the Belt and Road initiative and the development of the Yangtze River economic belt,” said Wang Mingzhi, deputy director-general of the waterborne transport bureau at China’s Ministry of Transport.
COSCO Shipping also launched COSCO Shipping Financial Holding in Hong Kong last week to diversify the group’s businesses in the financial services, including vessel leasing, investments, finance management and insurance.