Early Warning System

Countries

China

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Financial Institutions

International Finance Corporation (IFC)

International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.

Project Status

Active

Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.

Bank Risk Rating

Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."

Voting Date

Mar 29, 2022

Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.

Borrower

Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics Co., Ltd.

A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.

Sectors

Industry and Trade

The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.

Investment Amount (USD)

$ 103.03 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.

Project Cost (USD)

$ 1,088.00 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.

Bank Documents

Environmental and Social Review Summary

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Mar 14, 2023

Disclosed by Bank Sep 9, 2022

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Project Description

If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

The proposed IFC investment is a green loan package of RMB650 million (US$100 million equivalent). The proposed investment will be used to finance the company’s purchase of two new vessels (4,600 TEU each) and various types of containers. The container ships will not be utilized for liquid fossil fuels.

In early 2021, Zhonggu signed contracts to purchase 18 vessels including two vessels to be purchased under the proposed investment, 10 of which are from Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of Singapore-listed Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) Ltd. The remaining eight are from China Merchants Jinling Shipyard Co., Ltd. These new vessels are expected to be delivered from late 2022 to early 2024. The new-built ships will mainly travel the North-South Chinese coastal route for domestic transportation.

Early Warning System Project Analysis

For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

People Affected By This Project

People Affected By This Project refers to the communities of people likely to be affected positively or negatively by a project.

Investment Description

Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

International Finance Corporation (IFC)

As stated by the IFC, the total project cost is estimated at about US$1,088 million, which is to be financed by a combination of debt from both IFC and other financial institutions, as well as equity.

Private Actor Relationship

A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Private Actors Description

From the IFC's website:

Founded in 2003, Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics Co., Ltd. (“Zhonggu” - http://www.zhonggu56.com/index.jsp) is the largest private domestic trade multimodal container transportation company in China. As of 1H2021, Zhonggu operated a fleet of 109 container vessels (40 owned and the rest leased) with a total capacity of 2.4 million deadweight ton, 160,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU). The average size of owned vessels is 2,400 TEU and average age of the fleet is nine years. Zhonggu operates 48 China coastal shipping services. Zhonggu opened three intra-Asia services from China to Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh / Haiphong) and Russia (Vladivostok) in 2021. To promote multimodal services, Zhonggu has invested in several facilities to improve its inland transportation network, including one container terminal, one container yard, three logistics parks and two railway depots.

As of 30 September 2021, Zhonggu’s largest shareholder was Zhonggu Shipping Group Co., Ltd. with 57.46% ownership. The second largest shareholder was Ningbo Guyang Investment Management Limited Partnershp with 7.01% ownership. The rest of shares (35.53%) are widely held by investors with less than 5% each.

Private Actor 1	Private Actor 1 Role	Private Actor 1 Sector	Relation	Private Actor 2	Private Actor 2 Role	Private Actor 2 Sector
-	-	-	-	Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics Co., Ltd.	Client	Industry and Trade
-	-	-	-	Zhonggu Shipping Group Co., Ltd.	Investor	Industry and Trade

Contact Information

This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

General IFC Inquiries - IFC Communications:

Address: 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20433
Telephone: 202-473-3800
Fax: 202-974-4384

Client - Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics Co., Ltd.:

Mr. LIU Yongjun - Special assistant to the Chairman
Phone: (86)021-31109911
Email: liuyongjun@zhonggushipping.com
Address: 15th Floor, Building 1-B, No. 3261 Dongfang Road, Pudong New District, Shanghai, China
Website: www.zhonggu56.com

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org