COSCO SHIPPING Lines
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.[3] 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] 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 Dhabi's new Khalifa Port. This terminal is also the first port in the middle East to have automatic port truck system.[23]
