Beijing authorities have formally approved the creation of China Cosco Shipping Group (CSG), a new company created resulting from the merger between Cosco and China Shipping.
CSG chairman Xu Lirong has been announced to be the head the new company. Mr Xu previously served 36 years for Cosco, ultimately as deputy president of Cosco Group. Mr Xu is well respected in both companies and was the leader of the working group that lead to the merger of China Shipping and Cosco.
Mr. Wan Min, Cosco Group’s current deputy general manager, has been designated as the GM and as a board director of CCSG. Mr. Wan is the current chairman of Cosco Pacific and Cosco Shipping. Before Mr. Wan was holding the position of deputy general manager of China Cosco Holdings from August 2011 thru March 2015.
Ma Zehua steps down as Cosco Group chairman. Li Yunpeng , the company’s general manager and his counterpart Zhang Guofa were also not holding any positions in the new venture. China Cosco Holdings will now become the box shipping vehicle of the two Chinese giants. China Shipping Development will have the oil and gas tanker fleet.
Cosco Pacific will absorb the port assets while China Shipping Container Lines will become a leasing and financing service firm. The bulker assets, however, will be sold to Cosco Group, according to exchange filings by those units.
