By: OrePulse

Sierra Leone inaugurated a new national shipping company this week, a venture majority owned by a Chinese shipping group, with a stated long-term goal of building a fleet of fifty vessels. President Julius Maada Bio presided over the launch ceremony at Queen Elizabeth II Quay in Freetown.

The new carrier, Sierra Leone Ocean Shipping Company (SLOSCO), was structured as a joint venture between a Chinese shipping firm and a Sierra Leonean state agency. Zhejiang Xiehai Group, based in China, held a 70 percent stake in the company, while the state-owned Sierra Leone National Shipping Agency (SLNSA) held the remaining 30 percent, according to officials at the launch.

Speaking at the inauguration, Bio said the new company was intended to reduce the country's reliance on foreign shipping lines for its trade. "For far too long, we have relied on international carriers to export and import our products," he said.

SLOSCO was set to begin operations with an initial fleet of thirty vessels, according to the announcement, before expanding toward its full target of fifty ships. The fleet was intended to carry dry bulk, liquid bulk and other cargo categories. The company's main lines of business would center on exporting Sierra Leone's iron ore and bauxite, two of the country's principal mineral exports, together with importing petroleum products, grain and other essential commodities for the domestic market. Officials did not give a timetable for when the fleet was expected to reach its full fifty-vessel target.

The launch built on a restructuring carried out in 2025, when Sierra Leone's longtime national shipping operator was reorganized into SLNSA. Legislation tied to that overhaul granted the national carrier the right to handle a share of cargo equal to 40 percent of the value of the country's imports and exports, according to the announcement. That cargo-share provision applied to the overall value of the country's trade rather than to any single commodity, officials said, and no date was given for when SLOSCO was expected to reach that share.

SLOSCO named Sui Xiao as its chief executive officer. Laurent Debart, previously an executive at ship-broking firm BRS Shipbrokers, was named chief operating officer of the new company. SLOSCO said it had established offices in three cities, Freetown, Shanghai and Geneva, corresponding to its ownership base in China and Sierra Leone and to the markets it intended to serve. No other executive appointments were announced.

The venture added to a broader pattern of Chinese shipping investment in West Africa. Sierra Leone's government said the new carrier was meant to help the country retain more of the revenue generated by its seaborne trade in iron ore, bauxite and other commodities, rather than send that business to foreign-flagged carriers. Officials did not disclose the value of the investment in SLOSCO or provide a cost estimate for the planned fleet expansion.