The Chinese state-owned shipping line had moved closer to incorporating the publicly-owned Hong Kong carrier, with COSCO’s vice president – Huang Xiaowen – recently announcing that the deal would be completed by the end of June.

However, recent articles in The Loadstar, amongst others, suggest that the deal is currently under scrutiny as a perceived US security threat – specifically OOCL’s ownership of a number of US port container terminals. It was also considered that the recent tit-for-tat trade exchanges between Trump and China may complicate the issue further.

The takeover, which the EU approved in December, is expected to make COSCO the world’s third largest container shipping line, behind Maersk and MSC. COSCO currently holds approximately 9% of the market, and retaining all of OOCL’s 3% after the merge would allow them to leapfrog CMA CGM.

Both COSCO and OOCL share slots in the Ocean Alliance, which is one of the three major alliances that are also marketed by privately owned UK carrier – UniOcean Lines.

UniOcean Lines released their full 19 loop Asian schedule this week, which is the largest offering of services available and Uniserve Group continue to represent UniOcean Lines in both the UK and Ireland.

For further information on the 21st century carrier – UniOcean Lines – please visit their website www.unioceanlines.com.

To find out how Uniserve can add leverage to your supply chain, please email info@ugroup.co.uk or call 01375 856060 and ask for the commercial team.

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