COSCO Rejects Claims That Its Ships Carry Hidden Intelligence Equipment
The carrier says every antenna aboard its 566 ships serves navigation, communication or emergency response
COSCO Shipping has issued a strongly worded statement rejecting allegations that its vessels carry concealed equipment for intelligence collection, saying it firmly opposes claims it describes as false and unfounded.
The state-owned group said it opposed any act that seeks to undermine its corporate brand and hinder its global operations through the dissemination of false or misleading information, and cited its legal right to protect its reputation and business interests. The Chinese embassy in Washington had responded in similar terms a day earlier.
The allegations, attributed to two unnamed senior US administration officials, held that COSCO ships carry concealed equipment to intercept military communications near coastlines, and that the data gathered was being collected for the Chinese government from vessels and aircraft operating across Europe, North America and Asia. The officials were said to have characterised the hardware as sophisticated signals intelligence collection platforms rather than routine communications equipment.
COSCO's answer was specific. All communication, navigation, safety and operational equipment installed on its vessels is used solely for legitimate commercial purposes including navigation safety, ship-to-shore communications and emergency response, the company said, and none of it is used for intercepting military communications or gathering intelligence.
The company is not a marginal player in the argument. It ranks as the world's fourth-largest container ship operator with 566 vessels and capacity above 3.6m TEU, and it also runs dry bulk and tanker fleets. It has continued to contract heavily through the current cycle, adding 18 more boxships in a programme detailed in its 2026 newbuilding spend.
Washington has raised the military question before. The US Department of Defense added COSCO Shipping and two of its subsidiaries to its annual list of companies linked to China's military in January 2025, alongside other groups including the oil company CNOOC. That designation is largely symbolic, but it can be used to discourage companies from doing business with those named.
It also follows a pattern. In 2023 and 2024 there were repeated claims that Chinese-manufactured ship-to-shore cranes in use at ports worldwide could collect information or communicate back to their manufacturer. Multiple assessments dismissed the claims, but the episode fed a push to reshore crane manufacturing in the United States, and the cranes were later included on tariff lists alongside an effort to charge fees on Chinese-built or operated ships calling at US ports.
The timing sits awkwardly against the diplomatic calendar. Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet in Washington this month, after the two leaders met in China in May 2026.
