News / TS Lines founder Chen Te-sheng set to hand the reins to his son

TS Lines founding chairman and CEO Chen Te-sheng will retire on 1 June and hand over the reins to his son, Chen Shao-hsiang (pictured).

The regional carrier said yesterday that this was part of a pre-established succession plan, and 74-year-old Mr Chen will take on a senior advisory role, indicating that he will retain a certain degree of decision-making influence.

The Chens are related to Taiwan operator Wan Hai Lines’ founding family. for which the senior Mr Chen worked for 20 years, leaving in 1999 to join a Malaysian shipping line. In 2001, he founded TS Lines.

Under Mr Chen, the carrier has grown from an asset-light operation that only operated intra-Asia services with chartered feeder vessels. The Covid-fuelled container shipping boom transformed TS Lines, as sky-high charter rates convinced Mr Chen to expand the owned fleet, commissioning newbuildings and buying second-hand ships.

In November 2024, TS Lines was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after an IPO that raised $127.7m.

Today, TS Lines is the 20^th largest shipping line and owns 34 of its 42 operated ships, with a total capacity of 108,463 teu. Another 18 vessels, totalling 107,216 teu, are under construction and will be delivered over the next three years.

Chen Shao-hsiang had been groomed to take over the family business, and was appointed vice-chairman in March 2025 after working for TS Lines for three years. A graduate of the London School of Economics, he has more than 17 years’ experience in the shipping industry.

At TS Lines’ annual banquet in February, he said the world had changed since his father founded the company, with geopolitical tensions altering tradelanes and the uncertain environment necessitating more self-sufficiency.

Since then, TS Lines has diversified beyond its intra-Asia focus to South America and the Middle East, and continues to expand its fleet and order more containers. Since 2024, it has ordered nearly 50,000 new box, raising the carrier’s owned container ratio close to 50%.