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COSCO Bans Shark Fin Shipments

[ July 29, 2016   //   ]

WildAid Hong Kong offers a huge “thank you” to China COSCO Shipping Corporation Ltd., which recently announced that it will ban all shark fin shipments.

COSCO joins a growing number of transport and logistics companies standing up against a brutal trade that kills millions of sharks annually.

In a July 21 letter released today, Wan Min, Director and President of COSCO Shipping, announced that his company will “[…] make sure that no shark fin-related products are carried by our vessels through stricter monitoring and regulation. We also pledge to implement the ‘No Shark Fin’ carriage policies as other global container lines.”

COSCO Shipping’s commitment follows concerns raised by WildAid and other wildlife conservation groups after Hong Kong Customs official seized nearly 1 tons of fins from endangered hammerhead sharks, found inside a COSCO shipping container on board a COSCO vessel earlier this month.

“By acting responsibly and with great stewardship of our oceans, COSCO Shipping has joined the ranks of all the other major global container shipping lines by banning shark fin from their vessels with immediate effect,” said Alex Hofford, Wildlife Campaigner for WildAid Hong Kong.

The commitments of 17 container shipping lines and 34 airlines have intensified scrutiny of American multinational courier FedEx, which has yet to commit to a “No Shark Fin” carriage policy despite intense pressure. UPS, FedEx’s chief industry rival, banned shark fin shipments nearly a year ago.

“COSCO Shipping, a mainland Chinese conglomerate, has shown FedEx how quickly a shark fin ban can be implemented, if the will to do so is there at management level,” Hofford said.

Wildlife activists from WildAid and Hong Kong Shark Foundation stage a bloody protest outside a FedEx depot to draw attention to FedEx's continued shark fin shipments into Hong Kong which is the global hub of the shark fin trade with over 50 percent of the trade passing through the city, Kennedy Town, Hong Kong, China, 03 July 2016. The activists dressed in blood-stained shark costumes and held placards calling on FedEx to stop shipping shark fin and laid down silently on the ground.

Wildlife activists from WildAid and Hong Kong Shark Foundation stage a bloody protest outside a FedEx depot to draw attention to FedEx’s continued shark fin shipments into Hong Kong which is the global hub of the shark fin trade with over 50 percent of the trade passing through the city, Kennedy Town, Hong Kong, China, 03 July 2016. The activists dressed in blood-stained shark costumes and held placards calling on FedEx to stop shipping shark fin and laid down silently on the ground.

COSCOSHIPPING

 

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