COSCO Holdings, a listed arm of state-owned COSCO Group, said on its Web site on Tuesday it had shifted the vessels from its international fleet, and was using 34 vessels to transport coal along China's coast. They had shipped about 3 million tonnes of coal from the northern producing areas to the south.
Beijing has urged all parties involved, including coal mines and ports, to help solve the power shortages in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holidays starting on Wednesday.
COSCO plans to increase further its capacity for coal transport to help relieve the fuel shortage in the south, where many power generators had been forced to stop operation.