China Navigation Company
Management
Butterfield and Swire (B&S), which was the Far Eastern trading company of JS&S, was appointed from the formation of CNCo as eastern managers. All correspondence with JS&S, the London Managers, was conducted by the offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Shanghai was responsible for the CNCo business on the Yangtze River and the north China coast (from Ningbo north), and Hong Kong handled the south coast and Canton trade and all the South East Asian, Australian and Philippines routes. In many ports the B&S agent acted for CNCo although in some places a separate CNCo office might be established and in the Philippines, Australia and South East Asia, where there were no B&S offices, independent agents were employed.
The company today
Today CNCo is the deep-sea shipping arm of the Swire group. CNCo's managed cargo liner services serve over 130 ports worldwide, employing a mix of specialist owned and chartered vessels carrying container, bulk, break-bulk and project cargoes. CNCo was renamed to Swire Shipping Pte. Ltd. in October 2021.
Current fleet
MULTI-PURPOSE VESSELS
MIHOS
- Melanesian Chief (Ex-Coral Chief)
- Melanesian Pride (Ex-Highland Chief)
- Kokopo Chief
- Forum Samoa4 (Ex-Papuan Chief)
CHALLENGERS
- Changsha - likely named for MS Changsha (1947), a passenger ship built for CNC by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering in Greenock; sold in 1969 to Pacific International Lines and renamed MS Kota Panjang until being sold in 1981 for scrapping in Karachi.
- Chekiang
- Chenan
- Chengtu
- Kwangsi
- Kwangtung
- Kweichow
- Kweilin
B170s
- Nanchang
- Ngankin
- Ningpo
S-CLASS
- Shansi
- Shantung
- Shaoshing
- Shengking
- Shuntien
- Siangtan
- Soochow
- Szechuen
CHIEF-CLASS - New Chief-Class Vessels, delivery 2015
- Chief Class - TBN 1
- Chief Class - TBN 2
- Chief Class - TBN 3
- Chief Class - TBN 4
BULK CARRIERS
- Wuchang
- Wuchow
- Wuhu
- Wulin
- Eredine
- Erradale
- Erisort
- Eriskay
- Fengning
- Fengtien
- Liangchow
- Foochow
- Linan
- Funing
- Lintan
- Hanyang
- Luchow
- Hoihow
- Hunan
- Hupeh
- Pakhoi
- Pekin
- Poyang
- Powan
Notable former vessels
- SS Anhui (3,494 GRT built 1925 was one of only three large vessels, the others being Coast Farmer and Dona Nati, to actually deliver supplies early in the Pacific war to the Philippines from Australia arriving in Cebu City on 20 March 1942. Anhui later operated under U.S. Army control as part of the Southwest Pacific Area permanent local fleet as X-6 from 4 March 1942—September or December 1945.)
- MV Anshun
- MS Changsha
- SS Hanyang (2,876 GRT built 1940 was involved in early Pacific war efforts to supply the Philippines and Netherlands East Indies from Australia and later operated under U.S. Army control as part of the Southwest Pacific Area permanent local fleet as X-8 from 24 March 1942—August 1945.)
- MV Eredine (sold)
- MV Erradale
- SS Shengking
- SS Shuntien (sunk by enemy action)
- MV Soochow (also known as Maersk Asia Decimo)
- MS Taiyuan
- SS Wang Phu
- SS Wu Chang
- MV Wulin
- SS Yochow (2,810 GRT built 1938 was involved in early Pacific war efforts to supply the Philippines and Netherlands East Indies from Australia and later operated under U.S. Army control as part of the Southwest Pacific Area permanent local fleet as X-7 from 11 April 1942—December 1945.)