Wei Jiafu Quitted China COSCO as board chairman

On July 16， Wei Jiafu， the 63-year-old “Captain” of China COSCO Holdings Co， Ltd （China COSCO） ended his 15-year term of office as the board chairman of China COSCO. His successor was confirmed to be Ma Zehua， former vice board chairman of the company.

According to the public announcement of China COSCO， Wei Jiafu left because of the age and health. He also gave up its position as the non-executive director and CEO of China COSCO. The resignation took effect on that day and Ma Zehua began to work as the board chairman immediately.

On July 1， China COSCOs parent company China Ocean Shipping （Group） Company（COSCO Group） announced that Wei Jiafu has resigned from the positions as board chairman and Party Secretary of COSCO Group. His resume showed that he joined in COSCO Group in 1967 and was appointed president of the group in 1998.

Wei Jiafu has been working in the shipping industry for 46 years and saw the ups and downs of this industry several times. The current situation is the most dangerous one， though， as the long-term depression of international shipping industry kept pressing the COSCO so much that it suffered the loss of RMB 10.45 billion and 9.56 billion in the past two years， the largest among all companies listed in Chinas A-share market.

This April， Wei Jiafu apologized to the shareholders for the grand loss and the failure to maximize the shareholders benefits. He said that he “felt ashamed” and China COSCO would not waver in the commitment to getting rid of losses in 2013. Now Wei Jiafu resigned， leaving the dim outlook of China COSCO and the poor international shipping business behind. The task of getting China COSCO out the maze was given to Ma Zehua， whose measures and actions will be under heavy scrutiny.