China Cosco Shipping (COSCOCS), China's biggest shipping line, plans to carry out a careful selection of its future vessel-sharing alliance partners, but will maintain its two current alliances for the moment, reports Reuters.

Many say the alliance system will be shattered with the merger of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (Cosco) and China Shipping Group.

China Cosco, a unit of Cosco Group, is part of the CKYHE alliance with "K" Line, Yang Ming, Hanjin and Evergreen, while China Shipping is a member of Ocean Three with CMA CGM and UASC.

But the new COSCOCS told Reuters in an email: "The company will maintain operations in the two alliances until the alliance reorganisation is complete."

In 2014, Chinese authorities blocked a deal between Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) and CMA CGM. But shorn of CMA CGM the smaller combination of Maersk and MSC received the go-ahead to form an alliance.

COSCOCS's launch also comes two months after CMA CGM proposed to buy Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines for US$2.4 billion. NOL's container arm is APL, which is in the G6 alliance with Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, MOL, NYK and OOCL.

Separately, Coscocs has revealed it plans to have two million TEU container shipping capacity by end-2018, up from the current 1.58 million TEU it has now, reports China Daily.