![]() | |||
![]() COSCO headquarters in Beijing | |||
Formerly | China Ocean Shipping (Group) Corporation | ||
---|---|---|---|
Company type | subsidiary | ||
Industry | Transportation | ||
Founded | April 27, 1961 | ||
Defunct | 2016 | ||
Fate | became a subsidiary | ||
Successor | China COSCO Shipping | ||
Headquarters | , China | ||
Area served | Worldwide | ||
Services | Freight forwarding Shipbuilding Ship repairing Terminal operations | ||
Website | |||
Chinese name | |||
Simplified Chinese | 中国远洋运输有限公司 | ||
| |||
former name | |||
Simplified Chinese | 中国远洋运输(集团)总公司 | ||
| |||
former short name | |||
Simplified Chinese | 中远集团 | ||
|
China Ocean Shipping Company,Limited,formerly China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, [lower-alpha 1] commonly known for its abbreviated name COSCO Group,or simply,COSCO,is one of the major holding companies for COSCO Shipping,one of the world's largest shipping companies. COSCO Shipping was formed in January 2016 by a merger of COSCO and China Shipping Group as one conglomerate.
COSCO was founded in 1961 as a Chinese Government owned shipping and logistics services supplier company. [1]
COSCO headquarters is in Ocean Plaza in the Xicheng District in Beijing. [2] [3] It owns 1114 ships,including 365 dry bulk vessels,a container fleet with a capacity of 1,580,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU),and a tanker fleet of 120 vessels. [4] The fleet calls at over a thousand ports worldwide. [5] It ranks among the largest in both number of container ships and aggregate container volume in the world. [6] In 2012,it was among China's top 15 brands. [7]
It was the largest dry bulk carrier in China and one of the largest dry bulk shipping operators worldwide. In addition,the Group is the largest liner carrier in China. [8]
China Ocean Shipping Company,or COSCO in short,was founded in 1961 as a Chinese government agency. In the same year,a subsidiary was formed in Guangzhou,Guangdong Province. The Guangzhou subsidiary purchased a British vessel and renamed it as Guanghua (Chinese :光华). Guanghua made its maiden voyage to Jakarta for the People's Republic of China in April 1961. [9]
After the US resumed diplomatic relations with China in the 1970s,China Ocean Shipping Company signed an agreement with American company Lykes Brothers Steamship Company in 1979. The agreement opens the commercial sea routes between the United States and the People's Republic of China. [10] In the same year,COSCO became the Chinese side representative to collaborate with International Telephone and Telegraph on repairing the communication facilities in the coastal cities of China. [11]
In 1981,COSCO won a contract from the Pakistani Government owned National Tanker Company of Pakistan,for crude oil transport. [12]
The company became a holding company and renamed as China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company in 1993. [13] [ non-primary source needed ] Two other government owned companies,China Marine Bunker Supply Company (Chimbusco in short) and China Road Transport Company,which engaged in oil tanker and road transport businesses respectively,became the subsidiaries of the group in 1988 and 1992 [14] respectively. China Road Transport Company was renamed into COSCO Logistics in 2001 (now part of COSCO Shipping Logistics). As of 2003,COSCO Logistics engaged in shipping agency,freight forwarding,third party logistics and supporting services. [14] [ non-primary source needed ] While Chimbusco became a joint venture with PetroChina since 2003. [15]
COSCO has a Hong Kong division which the division acquired a HK-listed company Shun Shing Holdings [lower-alpha 2] in February 1997. [16] Hong Kong was a British colony until June 30,1997,and has been a special administrative region of China with a separate jurisdiction system since July 1. Another subsidiary of COSCO HK at that time, [16] COSCO Pacific, [lower-alpha 3] was a HK-listed company since 1994. COSCO Pacific has a joint venture with Hongkong International Terminals Limited,which operates a terminal in Kwai Tsing Container Terminals,Hong Kong since 1991. [17] COSCO Pacific acquired 49% stake of COSCO Logistics from the parent company in 2003. COSCO retained the remaining 51%. [14] COSCO Pacific also owned 20% stake of Hong Kong-based Chong Hing Bank from 1997 [18] to 2007. In 2007 the stake was sold to the parent company,COSCO HK. [19] [20]
In 1995,another subsidiary,COSCO Corporation (Singapore) Limited, [lower-alpha 4] became a listed company in Singapore Exchange. [21] The company was a component of Straits Times Index until 2010. [22]
COSCO also acquired a Shanghai-listed company in 1997 as a vehicle of backdoor listing. It became COSCO Development, [lower-alpha 5] which engaged in real estate. The direct parent company of COSCO Development was sold in 2005,thus COSCO Development was no longer part of the COSCO Group. [23] Also in 2005,COSCO Group acquired a company from COSCO Development. [24] That company was the operator of Boao Forum for Asia. [13] [ non-primary source needed ]
In 2002,another subsidiary,COSCO Shipping Co.,Ltd., [lower-alpha 6] became a listed company in Shanghai.
In 2004,COSCO formed a joint venture with fellow Central Government owned Ansteel Group (Angang Group). [25]
In 2005,the flagship subsidiary of COSCO,China COSCO Holdings,became a listed company. [26] The A share of China COSCO Holdings was listed in Shanghai since 2007. [27]
In 2005,a smaller Central Government owned company,China Ocean Shipping Tally (known as China Tally in short),was merged into COSCO Group. [28]
In 2008,China COSCO Holdings was part of Financial Times Global 500 for the first time. [29]
By 2015,after more than 5 decades,COSCO Group expanded into one of the major shipping company of the country. It also had a few listed subsidiaries:COSCO Pacific,COSCO International Holdings,China COSCO Holdings,China International Marine Containers,etc.,. Real estate developer,Sino-Ocean Group,was an associate company of COSCO until 2010.
In December 2015,COSCO Group merged with fellow Chinese Government owned China Shipping Group [30] to form China COSCO Shipping. COSCO Group was retained as an intermediate holding company.
In December 2017,COSCO Group (China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company) was re-incorporated from "An industrial enterprise owned by the whole people" to simply a limited company. The name of the company,also changed to China Ocean Shipping Company,Limited (Chinese :中国远洋运输有限公司). [31]
COSCO contains several listed companies and has more than 300[ citation needed ] subsidiaries locally and abroad,providing services in freight forwarding,ship building,ship repair,terminal operation,container manufacturing,trade,financing,real estate,and information technology. [32]
On the eve of 2015 merger,COSCO Group has a few listed companies: [33]
Moreover,China International Marine Containers is an associate company of the group,which COSCO indirectly owned 22.77% shares of that listed company as of December 2015. [37] The stake was owned by COSCO Pacific until 2013. [38]
As of 2000,COSCO also owned 30% stake of China Cargo Airlines. [39]
COSCO also had an unlisted business unit in Hong Kong,which was known as COSCO (Hong Kong) Group Limited. COSCO (H.K.) Group was the direct parent company of COSCO Pacific (valid until December 2004 [40] [41] ) and COSCO International. [35] COSCO (H.K.) Group bought the 20% stake of Chong Hing Bank and the entire stake of Shun Shing Construction from COSCO Pacific [19] [20] and COSCO International [42] respectively in 2007.
In 1991 COSCO was asked by the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to submit information regarding Chinese Government restricting U.S.-flag carriers on doing business in China. However,COSCO asked FMC to drop its probe instead. [43] FMC also investigated COSCO for its pricing behavior in 1997,but stating there is not enough evidence to launch a formal probe on alleged under-pricing its service to eliminate competitor. [44]
In August 1993,COSCO's ship Yinhe,was anchored off the coast of Oman. US government alleged that the ship carried material exported to Iran,which could be used to make chemical weapons. COSCO claimed that the ship only contained "paper goods,hardware and machine parts". [45] In what became known as the Yinhe incident,United States military vessels and aircraft followed the Yinhe, disrupting its normal travel route. [46] : 69 The United States unilaterally disabled the Yinhe's civilian GPS,causing it lose direction and anchor on the high seas for twenty-four days until it agreed to inspection. [47] [48] The Yinhe experienced shortages of water and fuel. [46] : 69–70 The inspection,which occurred in Saudi Arabia did not find any improper chemicals [49] and on September 4,representatives of the Chinese,Saudi and United States governments jointly signed a certification that the ship's cargo did not contain materials related to chemical weapons. [50] : 54
In 1997,Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer,United States senators from California,had asked the Clinton administration to investigate COSCO's leasing on a former naval base in Long Beach. The site was developed into a container port terminal,Pacific Container Terminal. [51] However,continued controversy and opposition by Republican lawmakers caused cancellation of the lease,and the new cargo terminal,which was in fact built by the Long Beach Harbor Department (Port of Long Beach),was leased to Hanjin Shipping,a South Korean firm.[ citation needed ]
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine,most shipping companies halted all container shipping to Russia,except for basic food products,medicine and humanitarian aid. The exception is COSCO which continues to ship to Russia,and was the largest shipping company to do so. [52]
On 31 July 2009,the Panama-flagged bulk carrier, Full City ,operated by COSCO Group's HK division, [53] experienced engine failure and ran aground near Langesund,Telemark,Norway,during a storm,spilling 200 tons of heavy bunker fuel oil in an ecologically and environmentally sensitive wildlife area. [54]
CITIC Group Corporation Ltd., formerly the China International Trust Investment Corporation (CITIC), is a state-owned investment company of the People's Republic of China, established by Rong Yiren in 1979 with the approval of Deng Xiaoping. Its headquarters are in Chaoyang District, Beijing. As of 2019, it is China's biggest state-run conglomerate with one of the largest pools of foreign assets in the world. In 2023, the company was ranked 71st in the Forbes Global 2000.
Chong Hing Bank is a bank founded in Hong Kong in 1948. It is headquartered in Central, while the back offices are located in Western District and Mong Kok. It was owned by the Liu family of Hong Kong until it was acquired by the Chinese state-owned Yue Xiu Group in 2014.
COSCO Shipping Development Co., Ltd., stylized as COSCO SHIPPING Development is a financial services company based in Shanghai, China.
Orient Overseas Container Line, commonly known as OOCL, is a container shipping and logistics service company with headquarters in Hong Kong. The company is incorporated in Hong Kong as Orient Overseas Container Line Limited and separately incorporated as Orient Overseas Container Line Inc. in Liberia. The latter was also re-domiciled to the Marshall Islands.
CITIC Limited is a conglomerate headquartered in Hong Kong. Its shares are listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and it is a constituent of the Hang Seng Index. 58% of its issued shares are owned by the Chinese state-owned CITIC Group.
Chow Tai Fook group is a Hong Kong–based, privately-owned conglomerate with holdings in the jewellery, property development, hotel, department store, transportation, energy, telecommunications, port, casino, and other businesses. Despite the holding companies of the group, namely Chow Tai Fook Capital Limited, Chow Tai Fook (Holding) Limited, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Limited, etc. being privately owned, the group has been partially listed on the stock market via associate company New World Development and subsidiary Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Limited. As of 31 December 2018, New World Development was ranked as the 47th-largest company by market capitalization on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, which was HK$105.68061 billion.
The Yinhe incident occurred in 1993 after the United States government received intelligence that the China-based container ship Yinhe was carrying chemical weapon materials to Iran. The United States Navy forced the surrounding Middle Eastern countries to refuse docking rights to the Yinhe, leaving it in the international waters of the Indian Ocean for twenty-four days. Additionally the Chinese claimed that the GPS of the ship was jammed such that the ship could not navigate. Eventually inspections of the ship's cargo by a joint Saudi-United States team concluded that the cargo ship did not contain any chemical weapons precursors. The U.S. government stated that there would be no apology, saying "the United States had acted in good faith on intelligence from multiple sources." Some American officials within the Clinton administration later raised the possibility of China having deliberately spread false intelligence in order to cause the incident, referring to it as a "sting". The incident has led to an increase in Chinese nationalism and anti-Americanism in China throughout the 1990s.
China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited is a major conglomerate based in Hong Kong and is involved in a range of businesses such as port operations, general and bulk cargo transportation, container and shipping business, air cargo, logistics park operations and paint products. China Merchants Port is considered as a Red Chip company as the Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing. The company has port facilities in mainland China and Hong Kong, and the predecessor was founded in 1991. The predecessor of the parent company was established in 1872 and was the preeminent industrial and commercial group in mainland China. Before changing its name to China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited, the company was formerly known as China Merchants Holdings (International) Company Limited.
In 1961 China established a state-run maritime shipping company and subsequently signed shipping agreements with many countries, laying the foundation for developing the country's ocean transport. That organization developed into the present-day China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO). The Chinese government also invested heavily in water transport infrastructure, constructing new ports and rebuilding and enlarging older facilities.
COSCO Shipping International Co., Ltd., stylized as COSCO SHIPPING International, and formerly COSCO International Holdings Limited, is a Hong Kong listed company and an indirect subsidiary of COSCO Shipping. It engages in ship trading and supplying services. It is headquartered in Hong Kong and it is listed in the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK) since 1992.
China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Ltd is a Chinese company principally engaged in the manufacture and sale of transportation equipment, such as containers, road transport vehicles and airport ground-handling equipment.
COSCO Shipping Ports Limited, stylized as COSCO SHIPPING Ports is a Hong Kong listed company and investor in ports. The company is formerly known as COSCO Pacific Limited and was an indirect subsidiary of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) and now part of its successor, China COSCO Shipping group. It is mainly engaged in container terminal operations, container manufacturing and leasing, shipping agency and freight forwarding.
China Shipping Group Company, Limited, formerly China Shipping (Group) Company, is a former Chinese state-owned shipping conglomerate. It is now one of the intermediate holding companies for another Chinese state-owned conglomerate, China COSCO Shipping, which was formed by a merger of China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) and China Shipping Group by the creation of a new parent company for the two conglomerates.
China Taiping Insurance Holdings Company Limited (CTIH) formerly China Insurance International Holdings Company Limited (CIIH), is a Chinese insurance conglomerate. The company has strong Chinese Central Government background despite being incorporated in Hong Kong. It is considered as a red chip company.
Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL) is a Hong Kong, China based investment holding company involved in international transportation and logistics, and property investment and property development. It is the parent company of Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), one of the world's largest container shipping companies.
Poly Property Group Co., Ltd., is a Hong Kong incorporated Chinese property developer, with its major businesses include property development, investment and management. It mainly develops mid to high-end residential and commercial properties in the cities along Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta as well as the second-tier provincial capitals.
APT Satellite Holdings Limited is a Bermuda-incorporated holding company. Its Hong Kong-incorporated subsidiary APT Satellite Co., Ltd. is the operator of the Apstar satellite constellation. APT Satellite Holdings and APT Satellite are headquartered in Hong Kong.
China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, abbreviated as COSCO Shipping, is a Chinese state-owned multinational conglomerate headquartered in Shanghai. The group is focused on marine transportation services. COSCO Shipping was established in January 2016 by the merger of COSCO Group and China Shipping Group.
COSCO SHIPPING Lines Co., Ltd. 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.