Photo: MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A.
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company has announced the delivery and inauguration of the MSC Oliver, the second ship in the company’s 19,224 TEU ‘Olympic Series’.
MSC Oliver was inaugurated at the DSME shipyard in Busan, South Korea on Monday, just two months after the delivery of MSC Oscar, currently the world’s largest containership by TEU capacity.
MSC Oliver is named after the nephew of the Diego Aponte, MSC’s President and CEO, and son of Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of MSC Cruises, who was on-hand during the inauguration ceremony. MSC Oscar was named after Aponte’s son, Oscar.
“As these are the next generation of MSC container vessels it is fitting that they be named after the grandchildren of MSC founder, Gianluigi Aponte,” explained Mr. Vago during the ceremony, “Our children carry the promise of this family’s future and these ships, the promise of MSC’s destiny.”
Diego Aponte, MSC President and CEO, and his son Oscar were in Busan just two months ago to christen MSC Oscar, the largest capacity containership in the world. “MSC Oscar and MSC Oliver are ships in the same class – not only can they carry more containers but they are also greener and more fuel efficient than any other container ship we operate,” concluded Mr. Vago.
MSC has described the MSC Oscar as the “most efficient vessel on the planet”, with 35% more cargo capacity and 35% less CO2 emissions compared to other vessels. In addition to economies of scale, the vessels achieve greater efficiency with a diesel main engine that optimizes fuel consumption based on changing conditions.
MSC Oliver is expected to enter service on the Albatross Service which operates between Asia-Europe later this week.
The two ships will be by followed by 18 additional vessels with a capacity over 19,000 TEU by 2016. MSC Oscar and Oliver however are the first of six ultra large containerships (ULCS) in the Olympic Series, which will all be delivered by November 2015.
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