COSCO cancels newbuilding orders

China Ocean Shipping Group (COSCO), China?s largest shipping company, cancelled plans to purchase some 120 vessels in 2009, a source from the company said. According to the original plan, three-quarters were dry bulk cargo ships and the remainders were oil tankers and container carriers. The ambitious purchase plan, which was proposed by COSCO?s various subsidiaries in late 2007 after a bumper year, was put on hold in the first quarter and finally axed, the source said.

Given the depressed global shipping market, the cancellation did not come as a total surprise. COSCO owns and operates more than 600 commercial vessels.