Founder’s Story ①
- Canada Orient Shipping COSHIP
- Apr 14
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 24
Where It All Began: The COSHIP Story
When you've been running a company for many years, there comes a moment when you pause and ask: "How did we get here?"
I began my career in logistics in 1996, working at the Korean agency office of a New Zealand-based shipping line. Four years later, I moved to a new company, where I met my husband, who worked in sales. We got married in 2002.
In 2007, we made the decision to start a new chapter. We moved to Canada with our two young children — one just ten months old, the other only two years old. The day after we arrived, we started what would eventually become COSHIP.
There was no time for jet lag. We had one goal: to build something in this new country as quickly as possible.
My English wasn't fluent. I wasn't comfortable driving yet. Our children were still very young. Whatever I couldn't finish during the day at the office, I continued working on at home after they fell asleep. There were many nights when I cried alone without letting my family know. Back then, I was simply working to survive.
At the time, there was a large wave of Korean students and immigrants coming to Canada, and international moving became the core of our business.
Then one day, I received a call from a student preparing to return to Korea. She wanted to send just two pieces of luggage home. At the time, there were very few options available for small shipments like hers, as most companies only handled full-scale international moves. Listening to her story, I knew we had to find a way to help.
That conversation became the beginning of our sea small-cargo shipping service. As demand grew, we later expanded into air courier services as well.
Looking back, many of the services COSHIP offers today began the same way — with a customer's story. Freight forwarding started when a business owner asked for help importing goods from Korea. Our purchasing and export support service was created because customers in Canada found it difficult to buy Korean products on their own. And as more clients began selling online, our 3PL fulfillment services developed naturally alongside them.
I also think about how much has changed since we first arrived. When I told people I was from Korea, most would ask, "North or South?" That was often the extent of what people knew at the time. My children were teased at school for bringing seaweed as a snack — some classmates called it "black paper."
Today, however, many Canadians talk about K-pop, enjoy Korean food, and actively look for Korean products. I watched that transformation happen right here, where we were building our lives.
During that same time, COSHIP also continued to grow — from connecting Korea and Canada to supporting customers across China, Japan, the United States, Europe, Australia, and beyond.
Even today, we continue to evolve by listening carefully to our customers and developing better logistics solutions to meet their needs.
As we refresh our website, I wanted to take a moment to share not only what we do, but how we got here — and why we built the services we did. I hope this story helps you better understand who we are and why we continue to grow the way we do.
This is the first of those stories.
This is where it started.
A small rented office in Coquitlam.
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