China Cosco Shipping is having its cake and eating it too in the wake of its acquisition of Hong Kong's Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), according to OOCL deputy chief financial officer Michael Fitzgerald.

Cosco's cordial and long-predicted takeover of OOCL and holding entity Orient Overseas International (OOIL) last year was not about acquiring ships, but more about buying a brand that is in Cosco's interest to preserve, he told delegates at last week's Marine Money ship finance & offshore forum in Shanghai.