A previously unheard of Chinese start-up Sea Legend has garnered media attention for its bold entrance into the Red Sea trades supported by Chinese naval escorts, but the Qingdao-based company is just part of a much wider network of companies trading between Russia and China
SEA Legend Shipping, a previously unknown China-based start-up, drew widespread media attention last week after Lloyd’s List revealed how it emerged at the vanguard of Chinese lines entering the high risk, high reward Red Sea trade backed by Chinese naval escorts.
But the Qingdao-based shipping company, that earlier this month launched a service using seven vessels to link Turkish ports with China via the Red Sea, is part of a much wider fleet network engaged in China-Russia trade.
Sea Legend is linked to affiliate Russian trade specialist Safetrans Line and transpacific operator Transfar Shipping Private, via the Chinese 3PL Worldwide Logistics Group, which counts Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics arm as an investor.
While there is no suggestion that any of the companies are engaged in anything other than legitimate business, the convoluted structures that obscure the links between entities and the unwillingness of company representatives to discuss Russian operations point to a reluctance of being associated with the rapidly growing Sino-Russia trades they are engaged in.
The corporate structures that have been hastily erected to allow this opportunistic new trade also has the added advantage of insulating parent companies, especially those with a Western market presence, from any potential risks that may later emerge.
Sea Legend was established in February 2023 as an affiliate of Transfar Shipping Pte, which in turn was linked to Safetrans, a fast-expanding Hong Kong start-up also established in 2023 to operate its own China-St. Petersburg service in partnerships with OVP Shipping.
All three companies, however, are ultimately linked back to the same controller — Worldwide Logistics Group.
Headquartered in Shanghai, this company has quickly emerged over the past two decades as a leading name among China’s privately run freight forwarders, with business spanning multiple overseas markets including Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. In 2019, it succeeded in bringing in e-commerce giant Alibaba as a strategic investor.
Worldwide’s chairman Lin Jie is understood to have been the driving force behind the shipping arms’ forays into the US west coast, Russia and the Red Sea services.
During the supply chain disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, it was Lin who was allegedly behind Transfar Shipping’s decisive entry into the congested, high-rate transpacific trades.
This latest foray into operations in the Red Sea and Russian trades is seen as another opportunistic, and lucrative move into disrupted markets at a point where larger competitors are withdrawing.
Market insiders have speculated that the deliberate creation of distinct, but opaquely linked entities, was part of a bid to isolate potential risks from operating in those sensitive trades.
While any direct equity ties between the companies have been obscured by the complex financial structures spread across tax havens, Lloyd's List has uncovered several links between the network of companies.
Safetrans Line, registered in Hong Kong, is one of the upstart carriers that swiftly emerged after Moscow was sanctioned by the West and mainstream lines exited the Russian market en masse.
It is now the sixth-largest carrier of Russia trade, or fourth-largest if only counting Baltic and Black Sea routes, with a combined capacity of over 25,000 teu on those lanes, according to data from Linerlytica.
Safetrans Line has already revealed close business ties with Sea Legend through overlapping voyage schedules posted on their websites. Their joint service appears to also draw support from OVP Shipping, another Sino-Russia service provider.
OVP’s vessel schedule published last week showed five ships in Loop “2401W”: SFT Saudi (IMO: 9224324), SFT Turkey (IMO: 9238753), Silk Spirt, OVP Taurus (IMO: 9241205), OVP Aries (IMO: 9150195) — all but the third was on Sea Legend’s roster.
Safetrans Line also claimed on its website it took delivery of 4,250 teu SFT Turkey in April 2023, which appeared on Sea Legend’s schedule and was highlighted on its homepage as receiving a Chinese naval escort through the Bab el Mandeb Strait last month.
“Their Russian business is operated by Safetrans and OVP is a partner in the Russia service,” Linerlytica analyst Hua Joo Tan, said. “Sea Legend is the brand they use for their Red Sea/Mediterranean part of the service but it’s the same ships which call Russia.”
A senior executive at Transfar confirmed to Lloyd’s List it also operates and manages Sea Legend.
But the links between World Logistics, Lin, and the three shipping units are less clear, obscured through a labyrinthine ownership structure involving a series of overseas-registered companies with intricate connections.
Intricate ownership structure
Transfar Shipping Pte is owned by British Virgin Island-registered Transfar Marine Holdings Ltd TMHL, which in turn is ultimately owned by Cayman Islands-incorporated Worldwide Logistics Holding Inc, linked to Lin’s logistics group in Shanghai, according to Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority and Lloyd’s List Intelligence credit report.
Records from Hong Kong Companies Registry show Safetrans Line, established in March 2022, is fully owned by Hong Kong national Lam Kwan Leung, registered to an office in Kowloon under a corporate service company SBC.
Calls to the SBC phone number left on the HKCR filing were immediately disconnected by operators.
Safetrans Line’s website only lists contacts of its Chinese and overseas agents and sales. When approached in a call, a staffer in Shanghai said it has no physical office in Hong Kong and handles its cargo from southern China in Nansha.
Interestingly, Lam Kwan Leung previously owned Transfar Shipping Corp Ltd (TSCL) registered at the same Hong Kong address until it dissolved a month before Safetrans’ inception.
Company records show in March 2019 Lam took over all TSCL shares from a Chinese national named Lin Jie, who wholly owned TSCL’s previously corporate body Worldwide Logistics Holdings Ltd (WLHL), then transferred it to an individual named Lin Yangchun in 2015 before Lam in 2018.
According to Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, the same Lin with matching passport numbers is a director of Worldwide Overseas Holdings Pte (WOHL).
WOHL’s shareholder is listed as Shanghai-headquartered Worldwide Logistics Group, in which Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao has a 13.5% stake.
“Cainiao is only a minority shareholder for Worldwide Logistics Group, and we do not participate in its daily operations,” the company said in an email response, adding it lacks knowledge on whether the firm it invested in conducts operations tied to Russia.
Meanwhile, a Singaporean named Tean Bee Lay has also connected Worldwide Logistics Group to the shipping units.
Tean is the secretary of both WOHL, Sea Legend and Transfar Marine Pte, another subsidiary of British Virgin Islands-registered TMHL that owns Transfar Shipping Pte. She also holds identical positions at several other Singapore-registered firms with Worldwide in their title or parent companies. One is Safetrans Tank Transport Pte, whose director Xu Zhonghua is also a WOHL director.
All these Singapore-registered firms share an auditor UHY Lee Seng Chan & Co.
Transfar Shipping Pte and Worldwide Logistics Group’s respective spokespersons denied any past relationship between the two companiesbut declined to comment on links with Safetrans Line and Sea Legend.
