China Cosco Shipping Corp (CoscoCS) is taking control of shipyards owned by its Singapore-listed subsidiary Cosco Corp.
As part of its ongoing restructuring, CoscoCS will acquire Cosco Shipyard Group, Cosco Nantong Shipyard and Cosco Dalian Shipyard.
Cosco Corp said the purpose of the restructuring is to centralise operations and management.
Late last year, CoscoCS revealed plans to form a new shipbuilding entity to be named Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry.
Besides Nantong and Dalian, Cosco Corp operates shipbuilding facilities at Shanghai, Qidong, Zhoushan and Guangdong.
Heavy annual loss
The sale of its shipyards was announced as the company posted a nearly SGD 1bn ($712.4m) loss.
Cosco Corp swung to a SGD 976.1m deficit in 2016, compared to SGD 914.8m in 2015.
Its annual loss widened following a weak fourth quarter, during which it delivered only two ships.
Cosco Corp’s orderbook stood at $6.4bn as at 31 December 2016, including several offshore projects that have been completed but not delivered due to extensions.
