serving independent owners with expertise and ambitions
Coshipman is short for COSCO Shanghai Shipmanagement Co. Ltd, an organisation that is located in Shanghai and manages 35 bulk carriers. However, this figure will soon be 36 as a customer agreed to buy an 80,000 tonne bulk carrier to be managed by Coshipman as we were conducting this interview. The Director and General Manager, Mr De-shui Li, and the Deputy General Manager and Chief Engineer, Mr Mao, Qing Dong together with the rest of Coshipman form a very dynamic team. The customer base does not include any COSCO owned vessels, but made up of independent Chinese and foreign owners that have invested in bulk carriers and draw on the management company’s more than 30 years of experience to operate the ships.
“We provide all the services you can expect from a good management company,” says Mr Li. “We have all the in-house expertise a ship owner need and can assist our customers in any area. Most of the people working here have professional backgrounds as chief engineers or captains. One of our main advantages,” he continues, “is that we are not just our own organisation but also part of the global COSCO network. That again means we can get support from COSCO offices, resources and expertise worldwide to provide any kind of technical assistance. Here at the headquarters we have 45 employees. We have people with more than 20 years of experience and we put that experience to good use.”
Commenting on the newbuilding assistance provided, Mr Mao says: “We provide input to the entire process, in plans and drawings as well as all technical issues. For instance, one of the shipyards in Shanghai area has five ships being built under our supervision. In respect with other forthcoming regulations “The ballast water issue is important to protect the environment and this issue is of course covered by SOLAS, but I believe there is still more to come here in the form of regulations and further restrictions as to what to deballast and where. This is an important environmental issue, as is the emissions from shipping to air. Here my guess is that there will be further restrictions and limitations on shipping too as a result of the next environmental summit coming up shortly in Copenhagen, the Cop 15,” says Mr Mao.
“China’s fast development will further strengthen her leading position in the global shipping community. In fact, in a few years, I believe China will be the leading shipping nation in all respects in a global context and this makes me very proud of what we are doing as well as of being a Chinese national,” says Mr Mao.
“We have a very good relationship with DNV and several of our ships are to DNV class,” continues Mr Mao. “This relationship is very important to us as we can discuss and draw on DNV’s expertise and equally global network. It is like a partnership. We are honest and professional in all we do and our customers are looking for just this, and in this setting we have an excellent cooperation with DNV. Our profiles match.”
When we finally ask Mr Li where he sees the company in five years from now, his quick response is that the current slowdown in the economy will soon be a matter of the past as the global economy will recover. In his view, China will play the leading role in this recovery. “Last year, we hosted the summer Olympics in Beijing, next year we will host the World Expo here in Shanghai, and after that we will start a huge infrastructure project in south China, building a bridge and road system connecting Macao, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. This is a nation on the go and so is our shipping activity. China is playing more and more important role in the world ” As we were speaking, COSCO was hosting the annual World Shipping (China) Summit in Qingdao with some 800 participants, underlining the already established Chinese influence in the global shipping community.