China United Lines (CUL) chairman and chief executive Raymond Chen is back at work, more than a month after he went missing in mysterious circumstances.
The liner company boss, also known as Chen Honghui, was present at a mid-year meeting of the Shanghai-based company yesterday.
He was joined by CUL president Ding Wei and senior management figures from Singapore, including liner division head Zhang Youbin.
The company did not make any statement about Chen’s absence amid reports that he had been detained in recent weeks.
Neither did the company mention the role of CUL co-chief executive Lars Christiansen.
Christiansen was not named as having been in attendance at the meeting on 8 August, adding to speculation he has stepped down to take on an advisory role.
Even keel
Instead, CUL referred in a post on its Chinese-language website to challenges faced due to the downturn in the container shipping market.
The company had reacted by suspending services from China to Europe and the US, and subleasing or transferring the vessels to other routes.
The carrier had shifted its focus to medium-haul routes such as India and Pakistan and the Middle East, and also plans to develop shortsea routes in South East Asia.
CUL had taken delivery of four Bangkokmax container vessels – the 1,900-teu CUL Laemchabang, CUL Nasha, CUL Yangpu and CUL Bangkok (all built 2022).
Those vessels were performing well in terms of cost advantage and operational efficiency.
But CUL made no reference to plans for the other newbuildings, including two 7,550-teu container ships for delivery next year from Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS).
The two vessels are believed to be sales candidates as a result of CUL’s shift of strategy. The company had planned to operate the vessels in the long-haul trades between Asia and Europe.
However, having withdrawn from those trades, a source said the company has been looking at selling the ships if the price was right.
CUL also has orders for two 2,400-teu ships for delivery from Yangzijiang Shipbuilding towards the end of this year.
Two slightly larger newbuildings — the 2,700-teu CUL Shekou and CUL Hochiminh — are slated for delivery from Guangzhou Wenchong this December and January 2024.
CUL has expanded its operated capacity rapidly from less than 4,000 teu at the beginning of 2020 to more than 90,000 teu at its peak in November 2022.
But CUL’s global expansion has gone into retreat with the company’s global ranking slipping from 21st to 45th currently, according to Linerlytica.
