Cosco Shipping Europe

COSCO Shipping Europe – the company was founded on the 28th of February, 2016 and was originally involved in food production. At present, COSCO specializes in the production of all types of boats, ships and shipbuilding products. COSCO Shipping Europe is a large network, which cooperates with many companies from the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Northern Europe and Africa. In this region, COSCO has 55 companies, the majority of them dealing with containers, but there are also units operating in the logistics industry. The company has 8 terminals in ports such as Rotterdam and Antwerp. The Port of Paris is also extremely important, where COSCO has a PPA 67% share and more than half of the port’s share. Carriers from the Far East are also served here on their way to Europe. Paris is a large transshipment center, which operates the new Land-See Express transport channel; goods from China are delivered via the port. From here, they are transported by train to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Serbia and Macedonia. The project started in April 2017 and its throughput has been increasing month by month ever since. According to the estimates, the turnover of Land- See Express will be 40,000 TEU this year.

Different modes of transport can be beneficial and mutually competitive, depending on the needs of customers. For example, in the past, the transport of goods took too long, and companies preferred to choose the more expensive air transport. Maritime transport is more economical and better for the environment. At the moment, 85% of the goods are transported by ships. Besides, railway transport is also being developed. This type of transport lies somewhere between air transport and maritime transport: it is slightly faster than sea transport, but more expensive. Thus, an increase in the number of vessels and in the volume of goods transported by these is being observed. As a part of Ocean Reliance, 90,000 TEU are transported to Gdańsk. The cargo of one ship can be equal to the entire turnover of many companies. This forum focuses on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, most of which do not have access to the sea.

Port of Gdańsk is future China’s gateway towards Central and Eastern Europe.

Currently, the port of Paris is China’s gateway towards Central and Eastern Europe, and Gdańsk, a large center on the Baltic Sea located in Poland will be another such gate. Its turnover, compared to last year, increased three times this year. Reloading of goods here has increased to such extent that support is needed from a highly specialized railway or road transport network. Too little capacity is a major obstacle to the development of competitive, good quality transport services. The task for the future for Central and Eastern European countries is to increase capacity and prevent unforeseen events.

Vice- President of COSCO Shipping Europe, Wang Songwen