4 prefixes · shipping line
COSCO Shipping Lines container prefixes: CSNU, CBHU, CCLU, CSLU
Track on elines.coscoshipping.com — official COSCO Shipping Lines tracker
Full COSCO Shipping Lines container tracking guide →
CSNU, CBHU, CCLU and CSLU are the BIC owner prefixes registered to COSCO Shipping Lines. A container number that starts with any of them belongs to the COSCO Shipping Lines fleet and is tracked free at elines.coscoshipping.com. The eleventh character of the number is a check digit; it is worked out below for each prefix.
COSCO Shipping Lines is China’s state carrier and the fourth-largest fleet worldwide, formed when COSCO and China Shipping merged in 2016.
Its box pool mixes group registrations — including one code formally held by the group’s own leasing arm Florens yet painted on fleet containers — so the family is smaller than the fleet suggests.
4 letters + 7 digits, printed on the doors. It is on your bill of lading too.
The answer appears as you type. Nothing is sent anywhere.
All 4 COSCO Shipping Lines prefixes
| Prefix | A valid number | Check digit | Where the code comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
CSNU | CSNU 665491-9 | 9 | — |
CBHU | CBHU 146895-5 | 5 | CBHU is formally registered to Florens — the COSCO group’s leasing arm — yet the boxes run in COSCO’s own fleet, so treat CBHU as COSCO equipment. |
CCLU | CCLU 286517-6 | 6 | — |
CSLU | CSLU 605654-5 | 5 | — |
Prefix register verified against two independent sources on 2026-08-03. The example numbers are computed to show the arithmetic. They are valid by construction, not numbers we saw on a box.
Data: BIC Container Prefix Register · ISO 6346:2022
CSNU: check digit, worked through
CSNU is registered to COSCO Shipping Lines. Take CSNU 665491-9: each of its first ten characters has a value and a weight, the products are added, and the remainder after dividing by 11 is the check digit — here 9.
| Character | Value | Weight | Product |
|---|---|---|---|
C | 13 | ×1 | 13 |
S | 30 | ×2 | 60 |
N | 25 | ×4 | 100 |
U | 32 | ×8 | 256 |
6 | 6 | ×16 | 96 |
6 | 6 | ×32 | 192 |
5 | 5 | ×64 | 320 |
4 | 4 | ×128 | 512 |
9 | 9 | ×256 | 2304 |
1 | 1 | ×512 | 512 |
Sum 4365 → 4365 mod 11 = 9 → check digit 9 → CSNU 665491-9
CBHU: check digit, worked through
CBHU is registered to COSCO Shipping Lines. Take CBHU 146895-5: each of its first ten characters has a value and a weight, the products are added, and the remainder after dividing by 11 is the check digit — here 5.
CBHU is formally registered to Florens — the COSCO group’s leasing arm — yet the boxes run in COSCO’s own fleet, so treat CBHU as COSCO equipment.
| Character | Value | Weight | Product |
|---|---|---|---|
C | 13 | ×1 | 13 |
B | 12 | ×2 | 24 |
H | 18 | ×4 | 72 |
U | 32 | ×8 | 256 |
1 | 1 | ×16 | 16 |
4 | 4 | ×32 | 128 |
6 | 6 | ×64 | 384 |
8 | 8 | ×128 | 1024 |
9 | 9 | ×256 | 2304 |
5 | 5 | ×512 | 2560 |
Sum 6781 → 6781 mod 11 = 5 → check digit 5 → CBHU 146895-5
CCLU: check digit, worked through
CCLU is registered to COSCO Shipping Lines. Take CCLU 286517-6: each of its first ten characters has a value and a weight, the products are added, and the remainder after dividing by 11 is the check digit — here 6.
| Character | Value | Weight | Product |
|---|---|---|---|
C | 13 | ×1 | 13 |
C | 13 | ×2 | 26 |
L | 23 | ×4 | 92 |
U | 32 | ×8 | 256 |
2 | 2 | ×16 | 32 |
8 | 8 | ×32 | 256 |
6 | 6 | ×64 | 384 |
5 | 5 | ×128 | 640 |
1 | 1 | ×256 | 256 |
7 | 7 | ×512 | 3584 |
Sum 5539 → 5539 mod 11 = 6 → check digit 6 → CCLU 286517-6
CSLU: check digit, worked through
CSLU is registered to COSCO Shipping Lines. Take CSLU 605654-5: each of its first ten characters has a value and a weight, the products are added, and the remainder after dividing by 11 is the check digit — here 5.
| Character | Value | Weight | Product |
|---|---|---|---|
C | 13 | ×1 | 13 |
S | 30 | ×2 | 60 |
L | 23 | ×4 | 92 |
U | 32 | ×8 | 256 |
6 | 6 | ×16 | 96 |
0 | 0 | ×32 | 0 |
5 | 5 | ×64 | 320 |
6 | 6 | ×128 | 768 |
5 | 5 | ×256 | 1280 |
4 | 4 | ×512 | 2048 |
Sum 4933 → 4933 mod 11 = 5 → check digit 5 → CSLU 605654-5
Tracking a COSCO Shipping Lines container
Paste the number into the form at elines.coscoshipping.com. We have not tested whether a link can carry the number there, so the checker on this page sends you to the form.
| Container number | ✓ yes |
|---|---|
| Bill of lading (B/L) | ✓ yes |
| Booking reference | ✓ yes |
| Mobile app | ✓ yes |
| Pre-filled link | not tried yet |
| Its bill of lading starts with | COSU |
Browser-verified 2026-08-03
Can you see where the ship is?
Not from the container. A standard dry box has no power, no radio and no satellite receiver — it is a steel case with a number painted on it, and it reports nothing about itself. Every position you see against a COSCO Shipping Lines shipment was reported by something else: a terminal crane, a gate reader, or the ship.
A live map on a carrier’s tracking page is almost always plotting AIS, the transponder every large vessel broadcasts with its position, course and speed. That is genuinely useful at sea: it is a real position rather than a schedule, and an ETA recalculated from actual movement. It is also the ship’s position, not your box’s, and the two part company the moment the container is discharged.
On land the map goes quiet. Between the gate-out and the delivery there is no vessel to follow, and the road leg appears only as whatever events the terminal and the trucker report. A container sitting on a chassis in a yard shows the last position of a ship it left days ago. Only specialised IoT equipment reports its own location, and wherever that exists it is a paid product sold to the shipper, not something a tracking page gives away.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns CSNU, CBHU and CCLU containers?
COSCO Shipping Lines does, a shipping line founded in 1961 — the BIC register lists 4 owner prefixes under it: CSNU, CBHU, CCLU and CSLU.
How do I track a CSNU container?
Free, on the official COSCO Shipping Lines tracker at elines.coscoshipping.com — paste the full 11-character number; no account is needed. The same tracker serves all 4 COSCO Shipping Lines prefixes.
Why does COSCO Shipping Lines have 4 prefixes?
Because one prefix holds only a million serial numbers and a fleet outgrows it — and because a line that buys another line keeps the codes painted on the boxes it bought. All 4 are tracked on the same elines.coscoshipping.com system.
Is CSNU a shipping line prefix or a leasing prefix?
A shipping line prefix — COSCO Shipping Lines both owns the box and moves it, so the owner and the tracker are the same company.
Is CSNU6654919 a valid container number?
Yes — CSNU 665491-9 passes the ISO 6346 check: the weighted sum for CSNU665491 leaves a remainder of 9 when divided by 11, which gives check digit 9. It is an example computed for this page, not a box we have seen.
One page, every owner code
Know whose box it is before you search
All 85 owner prefixes mapped to their line or leasing company, with the leased ones marked — so you can tell at a glance when to track with the line instead. Container dimensions are on page two.
The file downloads straight away. We email when the data changes, at most once a month, after you confirm your address once; opens and clicks on those emails are measured, and every one has a one-click unsubscribe. See our privacy policy.