COSCO, the world’s largest shipowner, has unveiled a new Advanced Technology Research Institute in Shanghai, underlining the Chinese state-owned group’s ambition to position itself as a global shipping technology powerhouse.
The institute was inaugurated at Marintec China, the world’s largest shipping exhibition, taking place in Shanghai across 110,000 sq m of exhibition space.
The new institute will focus on technologies across shipping, port logistics and marine engineering equipment manufacturing.
According to COSCO, it will aim to build a full innovation chain covering basic research, core technology breakthroughs and industrial application transformation, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the international competitiveness of China’s modern shipping industry.
The launch follows the establishment last month of COSCO Shipping (Shanghai) Shipping Technology Co, a wholly owned subsidiary of China COSCO Shipping Corporation with a registered capital of RMB 1bn ($140m). The company will act as the commercialisation arm for the group’s research efforts.
Its business scope covers a broad sweep of digital and green activities, including technical services, software and AI development, industrial internet data services, biomass fuel processing, supply chain management and import-export of technology and goods.
