One Of Hong Kong’s Oldest And Biggest Shipping Companies Is Looking To Startups For New Ways To Go Greener

Wah Kwong, led by chairman Hing Chao, is diving into the startup world in search of new ideas to cut carbon emissions, making investments in a wind-power startup in Ireland, forming a strategic partnership with a Shenzhen-based AI startup and establishing a dedicated sustainability investment unit in London.

As the shipping sector struggles to find consensus on how to cut carbon emissions, one of Hong Kong’s oldest and largest shipowners took the plunge in renewable energy investing by backing a wind-power startup, looking for new ideas to help the conservative industry sail toward a carbon-free future.

Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings invested an undisclosed amount in Gazelle Wind Power, a Dublin-based startup that develops floating platforms for offshore wind turbines. The deal, previously unreported, was made in the summer last year. It is the first such investment made by Wah Kwong in the renewable energy sector, chairman Hing Chao, whose grandfather founded the shipping company in 1952, revealed in an interview on the sidelines of the Forbes Global CEO Conference last month in Singapore.