China’s newly formed China Cosco Shipping Corporation Limited (Coscocs) has created a subsidiary solely to handle the container shipping business, the local media reported.

Coscocs, a merger of state-owned China Cosco Group and China Shipping Group, has launched China Lines on 1 March, and the new subsidiary will focus on operating and leasing out container ships, reports cited a source as saying.

China Lines, however, is not expected to be fully operational until July this year, the source revealed, explaining that the new entity still needs some time to sort out internal matters.

Wan Min, general manager of Coscocs, was quoted saying that China Lines will allow the group to cut costs and become more competitive on the global stage due to a larger fleet brought under one company.

It was reported earlier that Coscocs plans to achieve a 2m teu container shipping capacity by end-2018, up from the current 1.58m teu.

Coscocs is now the world’s fourth largest container operator by capacity, according to container shipping analyst Alphaliner. The top three spots are held by Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) and CMA CGM.

Coscocs was officially launched in Shanghai on 18 February, after the merger was approved by Beijing in December last year.