News / China Merchants consolidates Sinotrans ownership to enter box shipping sector

China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) said on Friday it would enter the container segment by fully acquiring its affiliate, Sinotrans Container Lines (Sinolines), for $316m.

CMES, the second-largest Chinese state-controlled shipping group after China Cosco Shipping Corporation, is currently active in the crude oil tanker and dry bulk segments and in LNG shipping through a joint-venture with Cosco.

Both CMES and Sinolines are majority owned by state-owned China Merchants Group, which acquired the Sinotrans group in April 2017, as the Chinese government ...