Samsung Heavy: OOCL Mega Ships Will Be a Record-Breaking 21,100 TEU

Illustration: Samsung Heavy Industries

Some new details released by Samsung Heavy Industries about OOCL’s recent order for ultra-large container ships reveals that the mega ships will be a record-breaking 21,100 TEU.

At 21,100 TEU capacity, the vessel’s are the largest ever ordered to date and the first to break the 21,000 TEU mark as the world’s largest shipping companies compete to expand their fleets.

South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries says it inked the order from OOCL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL), on April 1 for six units of 21,100 TEU for a total cost of US$950 million. The contract also includes options for six additional units, so additional orders are “likely,” SHI said in a statement.

The contract from OOCL renews SHI’s hold on the world’s largest containership order record, which it had previously set just one month earlier with an order for four ships of 20,150 TEU from MOL of Japan. To date, SHI has received firm orders for a total of 10 units topping 20,000 TEU.

The six ship’s for OOCL will measure 400 meters long by 58.8 meters wide, the same dimensions as the vessel’s ordered by MOL. The ships for OOCL however will be able to load 1,000 more twenty-foot equivalent units by accommodating an additional layer of containers, SHI says. The ships will also be equipped with a number of energy-saving systems, including propellers, rudder bulbs and stators developed by Samsung Heavy Industries.

The ships will be delivered by November 2017.

“It is expected that orders for ultra-large container ships will continue, as global shipping alliances are competing to expand their fleets,” SHI said in a statement announcing the OOCL order. “We will receive additional orders by offering optimized ship solutions and a range of eco technologies.”

Both OOCL and MOL are partners in the G6 Alliance along with Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Lines, Hyundai Merchant Marine and APL, serving the Asia-Europe and Mediterranean trade lines.

As it stands now, by the end of 2017 the G6 Alliance will have a total of 12 20,000+ TEU vessels in operation, including OOCL’s six units, MOL’s four, and two additional 20,150 TEU ships under a long-term charter with MOL that are being built at Imabari Shipbuilding Co. in Japan.