Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has taken delivery of the 24,188TEU OOCL Spain from China’s Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering (NACKS) shipyard as the first in a series of six sisterships.
OOCL welcomed its first new ‘megaship’ with the naming ceremony of OOCL Spain in mid-February 2023 at the Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering (NACKS) shipyard in Nantong, China, where the naming ceremony was held.
Although the 399.99m by 61.3m container carriers surpass Evergreen’s 24,004 TEU A class vessels in capacity, they rank behind the Mediterranean Shipping Co’s recently delivered MSC Irina and MSC Loreto, which have a capacity of 24,346 TEUs.
“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,” said Kenny YE, CEO of OOCL.
“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. 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.”
OOCL Spain has been awarded three “Smart Ship” notations by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) in recognition of its use of AI technology to optimise operations, helping to improve fuel efficiency, structural health monitoring, and navigational safety.
The vessel is due to join OOCL’s Asia-Europe service LL3 starting in March with a port rotation that includes 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 previously held the title of world’s largest containership in 2017 with the delivery of the 21,413 TEU capacity OOCL Hong Kong, which was the first ship to surpass the 21,000 TEU mark, coming just a few months after MOL Triumph became the first to cross the 20,000 TEU threshold.
