OOCL Welcomes First of Six 24,000 TEU Megaships

Hong Kong-based container shipping line Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has welcomed its first new ‘megaship’ with the naming ceremony of the OOCL Spain, the first in a series of six 24,188 TEU capacity containerships on order for the company.

OOCL Spain was built at the Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering (NACKS) shipyard in Nantong, China, where the naming ceremony was held this week.

With a carrying capacity of 24,188 TEUs, a total length of 399.99 meters, and a width of 61.3 meters, the OOCL Spain ranks as one of the largest containerships in the world, surpassing Evergreen’s 24,004 TEU A-class vessels but less than MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company’s MSC Irina and MSC Loreto which have a reported capacity of 24,346 TEU.

“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.”

The six-vessel series was ordered by OOCL in 2020.

“I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the shipowner, OOCL, one of the world’s largest container transportation and logistics services providers, for its trust and support to COSCO SHIPPING Heavy Industry,” said LIANG Yanfeng, President of COSCO SHIPPING Heavy Industry.

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 optimize 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.

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