Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. (OOCL) announced that it recently welcomed its first 24,188 TEU mega vessel to its fleet.

The new vessel, officially named “OOCL Spain”, — will join OOCL’s Asia-Europe service LL3 from March.

It will follow the Shanghai — Xiamen — Nansha — Hong Kong — Yantian — Cai Mep — Singapore — Piraeus — Hamburg — Rotterdam — Zeebrugge — Valencia — Piraeus — Abu Dhabi — Singapore — Shanghai port rotation in an 84-day round trip.

 Source: Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. (OOCL)

In a statement, OOCL noted that the vessel is capable of carrying up to 24,188 twenty-foot container boxes, and having a total length of 399.99 meters and a width of 61.3 meters.

“OOCL Spain” was built by Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co., Ltd.  

"This scale makes her not only the first of OOCL's vessels to exceed the 24,000 TEU threshold, but also places her among the very largest container ships in the world (as measured by carrying capacity)," it said in the announcement.

OOCL noted that the vessel had been awarded three "Smart Ship" notations by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) — a recognition that OOCL’s use of the latest intelligent technology onboard, together with big data acquisition, will optimize the operations of the OOCL Spain, enabling fuel efficiency improvements, gains in structural health monitoring, and long-term navigational safety.  

OOCL Spain is the first of a series of six 24,188 TEU vessels ordered by OOCL in 2020 to be delivered by NACKS.

Kenny YE, chief operating officer of Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd., said that the new vessel OOCL Spain is of great significance to OOCL.

"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. 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," YE added.

“OOCL Spain” was officially named at a ceremony held at the No.2 outfitting quay of Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co., Ltd. (NACKS) in Nantong, China.