China Cosco Shipping Vice Chairman, Huang Xiaowen, has confirmed that the acquisition of Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) is set to be completed by the end of June 2018.
Huang stated that the company was still waiting on a number of domestic approvals for the acquisition, whilst answering questions from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
Orient Overseas International Ltd (OOIL) accepted Cosco Shipping’s $6.3 billion takeover deal on July 9, 2017.
Lars Jensen, CEO, SeaIntelligence, recently forecasted the industry’s developments as far into the future as 2025 in his 'Liner Shipping in 2025' technical paper
The acquisition is set to make Cosco the largest Pacific Ocean container shipping service and the world's third largest container liner with 400 vessels, concentrating the market share of the top six companies to 63%.
Cosco and OOCL will also knock CMA CGM down in the league tables with more than 2.4 million TEU and a market share of around 11.5%.
Cosco previously promised to retain OOIL's listing status and global headquarters in Hong Kong to support the city as a global maritime centre.
