2GO Group

The company traces its roots to William Lines, Inc., which began as a shipping business founded by William Chiongbian on December 13, 1945, in Cebu City. He named one of its first vessels, the MV Victoriano, after his father; the ship made its maiden voyage serving the routes from Cebu to Tagbilaran, Bohol, and Siquijor, then to Plaridel and Ozamiz. The company was later incorporated on May 26, 1949. From the 1970s to the 1990s, the company introduced several flagship vessels, including MV Cebu City (1972), MV Doña Virginia (1980), and MV Sugbu (1989), and grew to become one of the largest shipping companies in the Philippines during that period.

In the 1990s, William Lines introduced the Mabuhay Series, comprising the company's largest and most luxurious vessels, designed to compete with rival fleets, including Sulpicio Lines and Aboitiz's SuperFerry ships. The first ship of the series, the Wilines Mabuhay 1, was acquired from Japan and was part of the well-known Sunflower series of vessels. Subsequently, William Lines added more ships to the Mabuhay Series, including Mabuhay 2, 3, 5, and 6.

In December 1995, William Lines acquired the assets of Gothong Lines and Aboitiz Shipping Corporation through a ₱5.68 billion share-swap deal, issuing new William Lines shares to the two companies in exchange for their shipping properties. The merger consolidated the operations of the three shipping firms, forming William, Gothong and Aboitiz Inc. (WG&A), which became the largest domestic shipping company in the Philippines.

The WG&A fleet was organized into three categories. SuperFerry, a brand carried over from Aboitiz Shipping, comprised the company's largest and most luxurious ships, primarily serving routes from Manila. This included vessels from William Lines’ Mabuhay Series; Mabuhay 1, 2, 3, and 5'. The remaining ships that did not meet SuperFerry standards were designated as WG&A Ferries, which also primarily served Manila-based routes. The other is Cebu Ferries, created during the merger, operated smaller vessels primarily serving routes from Cebu to the Visayas–Mindanao region.

Eventually in 2002 to 2004, Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV), one of the company's major shareholders, bought out its partners in WG&A for about ₱3.65 billion. AEV acquired 918 million shares, equivalent to approximately 61 percent of the shipping company. Aboitiz eventually bought out the remaining shares of the Chiongbians (William Lines) and Gothong.

The partnership was later dissolved, leading to the formation of the Aboitiz Transport System, which unified the operations of SuperFerry, Cebu Ferries, and SuperCat.

In September 2008, Aboitiz Equity Ventures decided to quit the shipping business to focus on its core businesses, namely power and financial services, and announced the sale of its controlling 77% stake in Aboitiz Transport System to KGLI‑NM Holdings, a joint venture between Negros Navigation and Dutch investors, with plans to acquire the remaining shares and potentially delist the company, but due to financing difficulties during the global financial crisis, KGLI‑NM was unable to complete the full buyout, paid only a P100 million option fee, and eventually withdrew its offer in May 2009, terminating the agreement.

On December 1, 2010, Aboitiz Equity Ventures sold its transport business to Negros Navigation Co. Inc. (NENACO) for US$105 million, transferring all logistics and shipping operations under new ownership. At the same time, the China–ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund, a Netherlands-based private equity firm owned by the Government of the People's Republic of China, acquired a controlling stake in NENACO through an equity infusion.

Operations

2GO and its subsidiaries (collectively referred to as the Group) provide shipping, logistics, and distribution services to small and medium enterprises, large corporations, and government agencies throughout the Philippines. The Group operates under its flagship brand, 2GO.

The Group's shipping operations manage inter-island roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) freight and passenger vessels. Its logistics arm offers transportation, warehousing, and distribution services, including cold chain solutions, domestic and international ocean and air forwarding, customs brokerage, project logistics, and express and last-mile package and e-commerce delivery. The distribution segment complements these operations by leveraging 2GO's shipping and logistics capabilities to provide value-added distribution services to principals and customers.

Business units

Sea Solutions – Operates under the brands 2GO Freight and 2GO Travel.

2GO Freight provides door-to-door and pier-to-pier transportation of raw materials and finished goods via full container load (FCL), less-than-container load (LCL), and loose cargo shipments, using a fleet of roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) passenger-cargo vessels (RoPax).