Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Coscocs Targets 2 Mln TEUs by 2018 Photo: China Cosco Shipping (COSCOCS) Photo: China Cosco Shipping (COSCOCS)

China's biggest shipping line China Ocean Shipping Corporation (Coscocs) has revealed an ambitious plan to increase its container shipping capacity to hit a 2 million TEUs over the next three years, says China Daily.

The company is raising the operational capacity in an effort to seize a larger slice of the cake, known as the East-West and South-North routes.

Wan Min, general manager of China COSCO Shipping, said Chinese shipping companies mainly operate container shipping services on Asia-Africa and China-Southeast shipping lines, the competition will therefore focus on major shipping lines in particular Asia-Europe and Asia-America routes.

China Daily quoted the company’s general manager, Wan Min, as saying the goal of reaching 2 million TEUs can help COSCO possess similar operational capacity to compete with each one of the three European shipping companies.

The combined container shipping capacity of the newly merged Coscocs - China Cosco and China Shipping Group - ranks behind Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Company and CMA CGM. The Chinese company owns 1.58 million TEUs, ranking fourth out of the world's container shipping operators.

'Denmark's Maersk Line, Switzerland's Mediterranean Shipping Co SA and French shipper CMA CGM SA, the world's top three container ship operators currently hold around 40 percent of container cargo market share in the world, the share for Chinese companies in major shipping lines remain relatively small,' said Wan.

Meanwhiel, no decision has yet been made on where COSCOCS will go in terms of container alliances, according to a spokeswoman in an emailed reply to Reuters on Friday.

Analysts have said the global network of vessel-sharing alliances on container routes could be shaken up by recent deals.

Speculation has been rife that COSCOCS will link with CMA CGM, Evergreen and OOCL to create a new alliance that would shake up all the existing liner alliances. Cosco is currently part of the CKYHE alliance, while China Shipping is in the Ocean 3.