Cosco aims for the top spot

Cosco Shipping, the shipping arm of China's largest maritime conglomerate and currently number four among the world's largest container liner shipping companies, is clearly aiming for the top. According to Chinese statements, the company aims to become the world's largest container shipping company. A newbuilding programme worth USD 4.9 billion is planned for 32 ships of various sizes and a total slot capacity of 580,000 TEU. This involves both megamax carriers with slots for 23,000 TEU and medium-sized units with a capacity of 15,000 TEU each. According to reports, Cosco is already in negotiations with the shipbuilding group Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry Yangzhou, which also belongs to the Group. All newbuilds are to be delivered by 2025 and will be equipped with dual-fuel propulsion systems that can run on methanol, for example. According to Alphaliner, Cosco, including its Hong Kong subsidiary OOCL, already had 34 ships with a total of 586,000 TEU under construction or on order before the newbuilding programme was announced. In the middle of the year, Cosco had a fleet of 512 ships totalling 2.92 million TEU.