Brighter news continues to flow out of China companies with Cosco International Holdings posting a positive profit alert.

Cosco Corporation (Singapore) posted a dip in full year net profit despite a rise in revenue, and expects downward pressure on margins of newbuilding projects due to the weak shipping market.

Wärtsilä will outfit five new 14,500 teu container vessels under construction at China's Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding with 20 Auxpac 32 generating sets.

Two of Cosco shipyards have secured and rendered effective contracts for the construction of two ships with a combined value of approximately $160m.

The new Greek government has moved quickly to try and douse China’s concerns over the decision to halt privatisation of the Piraeus and Thessaloniki ports.

China Cosco Holdings, the shipping unit of conglomerate Cosco Group, has revealed a profit growth expectation of more than 50% for 2014.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras promised “radical” change as his new government swiftly moved to roll back key parts of Greece’s international bailout, and shipping was warned it should be prepared to “lift the heaviest possible burden”.

China’s largest state-owned shipping conglomerate Cosco Group has managed to achieve significant fuel savings and lower the age profile of its fleet over the last couple of years, according to Ma Zehua, the group’s chairman of the board.

With the oil price hovering around just $45 per barrel shipowners may be rejoicing but for those in the offshore marine industry things are looking rather less promising.

State-owned China Cosco has landed a $1.75bn loan from Export-Import Bank of China to finance 53 newbuildings, local media reported.