OOCL unveils its 1st 24,188 TEU mega vessel

Hong Kong-based container shipping company Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has taken delivery of its first 24,188 TEU mega vessel.

The vessel was officially named OOCL Spain at a ceremony held today at the No.2 outfitting quay of Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co. (NACKS) in Nantong, China.

OOCL Spain is capable of carrying up to 24,188 twenty-foot container boxes, and has a total length of 399.99 meters and a width of 61.3 meters.

 This scale places the colossal boxship among the very largest container ships in the world (as measured by carrying capacity). 

“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,”  Kenny YE, Chief Operating Officer of Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd, said.

“I would like to thank NACKS, who, using their own R&D and technological capabilities, have designed this mega vessel, equipped with the most advanced eco-friendly and intelligent technologies.”

The ship was launched back in November 2022 and it has been described as the first 24,000 TEU containership launched by NACKS.

The design of the ship incorporates a newly developed energy-saving bulbous bow, propeller front shroud and other energy-saving devices.

The vessel has been awarded three “Smart Ship” notations by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) in recognition of the use of the latest intelligent technology onboard. These include big data acquisition that aim to optimize the operations of OOCL Spain, enabling fuel efficiency improvements, gains in structural health monitoring, and long-term navigational safety.  

OOCL Spain is the first of a series of six 24,188 TEU vessels ordered by OOCL in 2020 to be delivered by NACKS. It will join OOCL’s Asia-Europe service LL3 from March. Its port rotation is:

Shanghai / Xiamen / Nansha / Hong Kong / Yantian / Cai Mep / Singapore / Piraeus / Hamburg / Rotterdam / Zeebrugge / Valencia / Piraeus / Abu Dhabi / Singapore / Shanghai in an 84-day round trip.

OOCL ordered five 23,000 TEU boxships at COSCO shipbuilding yards in China back in 2020, with three ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs) assigned for construction at NACKS yard and the remaining two at Dalian COSCO KHI Ship Engineering (DACKS).  The ship quintet is planned for delivery in 2023.

The order was followed by another contract later that year with OOCL ordering another seven units.

Under the contracts are valued at HK$ 8.6 billion (about 1.1 billion), Nantong will construct three of the seven vessels and Dalian the remaining four units.

The boxships are expected to be delivered between the third quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2024. The orders are said to be part of the group’s long-term strategic development and growth plan aimed at building and deploying mega-sized vessels in order to enhance OOCL’s cost competitiveness and improve operation efficiency.

In addition, NACKS has scored an order for seven methanol-powered boxships from the Hong Kong-based shipowner. The cost of each vessel will be $239.85 million, being a total investment by OOCL of $1,67 billion. The units will be delivered from the third quarter of 2026.