OOCL Welcomes its First 24,188 TEU Containership

Hong Kong-headquartered shipping company Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. (OOCL) welcomed to its fleet its first 24,188 TEU mega vessel, OOCL Spain, officially named at a ceremony held Thursday at Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co., Ltd. (NACKS) in Nantong, China.

The ultra-large containership is the lead vessel in a series of six OOCL ordered from NACKS in 2020.

The first of OOCL’s vessels to exceed the 24,000 TEU threshold, OOCL Spain is 399.99 meters long and 61.3 meters wide, placing it among the largest containerships in the world.

The vessel has been awarded three "Smart Ship" notations by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), recognizing that OOCL’s use of the latest intelligent technology on board, together with big data acquisition, will optimize operations, enabling fuel efficiency improvements, gains in structural health monitoring and long-term navigational safety, OOCL said.

Kenny Ye, OOCL's chief operating officer, said, "OOCL Spain is not only the first newbuilding that has been delivered to us in over five years, but it is also OOCL’s first vessel with a capacity over 24,000 TEU. More importantly, she is the first newbuilding received by OOCL since the company joined the COSCO SHIPPING Group, and so it is the first vessel jointly created by OOCL and other sister companies."

OOCL Spain (Photo: OOCL)