March 1 would appear to be the outside date for Cosco’s take over of China Shipping Container Lines.
Cosco Container Lines (Coscon) has filed a notice with the US Federal Maritime Commission stating it should have taken on CSCL’s fleet by time charter by the start of March.
The merger between Cosco and China Shipping splits listed entities into four divisions – container shipping, tankers, leasing and ports with dry bulk taken private under the wing of the Cosco Group.
The combined entity – branded China Cosco Shipping Group – will become the world’s largest shipping line by quite some distance. With 783 vessels worth $22.95bn, the Chinese giant would be more than $10bn and 500 ships in front of second placed AP Moller Maersk, according to data compiled in August from VesselsValue.com. It would rank number one in the dry bulk and tanker trades in terms of fleet size and valuation while Alphaliner statistics show the merged pair would become the world’s fourth largest containerline.
