It controls a range of wholly owned businesses, including deep-sea shipping, cold storage, road transport, and agricultural activities.

Today CNCo is the deep-sea shipping arm of the Swire Group.

In 2006 China Navigation Co Ltd, the deep-sea shipping arm of John Swire & Sons Ltd, bought the business from Andrew Weir Shipping.

Michael Marrow, an executive with more than 10 years experience in providing outsourced customer service, recently signed on as chief operating officer of a new company called ShipServ, which plans to develop an e-commerce marketplace for the deep-sea shipping industry.