An air raid by allied bombers over Taikoo Dockyard in January 1945
World War II very nearly destroyed Swire. The Yangtze River was closed to foreign shipping from 1942 and increasing restrictions on shipping on the China coast foreshadowed the firm’s gradual withdrawal from the Chinese mainland. By 1945, the Taikoo Sugar Refinery and Taikoo Dockyard had been reduced to rubble during bombing raids on Hong Kong, more than 30 China Navigation vessels had been captured or sunk, and company properties throughout the region had been destroyed or looted.