Today, OOCL celebrated the christening of Hull H2173, a 21,413 TEU newbuilding constructed at the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard on Geoje Island.  Named as OOCL Germany, this mega containership is the second of the six 21 thousand TEU class vessels on order at the shipyard and they are an important part to enhancing the competitiveness and efficiency of our modern fleet.
OOCL Germany christened at a naming ceremony on Geoje Island
OOCL Germany christened at a naming ceremony on Geoje Island
As with many of our newbuildings, extra efforts have been made to ensure that they are operationally efficient and meeting the highest environmental standards.  In fact, the OOCL Germany, and her sister vessels, are designed with many advanced green features that can help meet future environmental requirements.  For instance, the energy efficiency of these containerships not only satisfies the current Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) baseline requirement, but is 48% better than the EEDI level required by the International Maritime Organization in 2025. “The state-of-the-art technologies in these newbuildings are truly pushing boundaries,” said Mr. Andy Tung, Chief Executive Officer of OOCL, during his commemorative remarks at the naming ceremony.  “As a ship owner, meeting environmental requirements are important considerations when working with the shipyard to ensure that we can make the vessel as ‘future proof’ as possible, particularly how we are seeing environmental standards and requirements becoming more and more stringent in the industry over the years.” “It has been a real privilege for us to be working alongside Samsung Heavy Industries, our long-standing business partner, on this journey – sharing the same commitment to aim high and deliver quality product and services.” Among our distinguished guests at the ceremony, OOCL was honored to have with us our Vessel Sponsor, Mrs. Akiyo Moue, and her husband Mr. Nozomi Moue, Managing Executive Officer of Shinsei Bank, as our Guest of Honor.  In recognition of our special guests from Shinsei Bank, Mr. Tung thanked Mr. Moue and his colleagues for the business partnership and the Bank’s support to OOCL. “When we first started discussions with Shinsei Bank about 5 years ago, we were both interested in cultivating our relationship and finding the right opportunity to collaborate on a project together,” said Mr. Tung.  “Two years later, our first transaction was made and kick-started our business partnership that later extended to financing support for the OOCL Germany, paving way towards what I strongly believe to be a long-term banking relationship in the making.  We are truly honored to have Shinsei Bank in our portfolio and we really look forward to exploring new opportunities that may take our collaboration into the next level.”       From L to R: Mr. D Y Park, President & Chief Executive Officer of Samsung Heavy Industries; Mrs. Akiyo Moue, Sponsor; Mr. Nozomi Moue, Managing Executive Officer of Shinsei Bank and Guest of Honor; Mr. Andy Tung, Chief Executive Officer of OOCL With the new mega vessels, new partnerships and new strategies in our business, OOCL is confident with our path towards a positive trajectory into the long-term sustainable future.  OOCL will continue to compete hard, deliver results, and meet the needs of our customers by developing quality product and services. The OOCL Germany will be serving the Asia-Europe trade lane on the LL1 service and her port rotation is: Shanghai / Ningbo / Xiamen / Yantian / Singapore / via Suez Canal / Felixstowe / Rotterdam / Gdansk / Wilhelmshaven / Felixstowe / via Suez Canal / Singapore / Yantian / Shanghai in a 77-day round trip. “Orient Overseas Container Line” and “OOCL” are trade names for transportation provided separately by: Orient Overseas Container Line Limited (“OOCLL”) and OOCL (Europe) Limited respectively and both are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Orient Overseas (International) Limited, a public company (0316) listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.  Headquartered in Hong Kong, OOCL is one of the world's largest integrated international container transportation and logistics companies, with more than 330 offices in 70 countries. Linking Asia, Europe, North America, the Mediterranean, the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East and Australia/New Zealand, the company offers transportation services to all major east/west trading economies of the world. OOCL is one of the leading international carriers serving China, providing a full range of logistics and transportation services throughout the country. It is also an industry leader in the use of information technology and e-commerce to manage the entire cargo process.