China’s state-run shipping conglomerate Cosco has debuted a cross-industry pact during the World Shipping Summit in Shanghai this week in an effort to strengthen collaboration among players from different sectors in the industry.

A total of 14 companies including Cosco Shipping, Maersk, Evergreen, CMA CGM, Yang Ming, Seaspan, Zeebrugge Port, Shandong Port Group, China Grain Reserves, BIMCO, Chalco Logistics, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, China Mobile and China FAW are the first batch of companies to join the initiative.

Captain Xu Lirong, chairman of Cosco Group, said he sees the initiative as a solution to the current challenges in the global shipping market.

Cosco has called for more companies to join the initiative to better support the sustainable growth of trade and shipping by aligning the supply and demand of both upstream and downstream to improve the efficiency of resource allocation, and work together on solutions to combat the challenges facing shipping.

“At present, shipping and related industries are facing the double challenges from external environment and requirements of our own development, which require all the participants in the shipping industry chain to cooperate to cope with. To this end, representatives from industry regulators, shippers, carriers, technicians and intermediaries and other sectors have jointly launched the Global Shipping Industry Chain Cooperation Initiative based on the principle of equality, voluntariness, and achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration,” Xu said.

Cosco also led the recent set-up of the Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN) through its subsidiary CargoSmart to promote shared digital solutions for the shipping industry.