Cosco-France

COSCO has received delivery of its 13,386-TEU post neopanamax vessel, the COSCO France, the second, after the delivery of the COSCO Belgium in March, of eight identical ships from Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering Company (NACKS), Cosco's joint venture with Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The Cosco France is a 20-row wide twin-isle ship costing US$167 million, that was first scheduled for an earlier delivery, but deferred because of the global economic downturn. The other ships will be delivered over the next 18 months, with the final ship due in September 2014. Each of the vessels will be named after a European country. In a few days, the COSCO France will join the CKYH alliance's Far East to Northern Europe service NE3, where it replaces the COSCO Beijing, a 9,469 TEUer soon to join Hong Kong's OOCL on its Far East-Middle East Gulf service as part of a vessel swap with Cosco.