Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has signed newbuilding contracts with shipyards Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co., Ltd. (NACKS) and Dalian COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co. Ltd. (DACKS) for five new container vessels, each at a cost of US$155.68 million with a nominal capacity of 23,000TEU.
The Hong-Kong based company expects to begin taking delivery of these vessels in the year 2023.
These five new buildings are part of OOCL’s ongoing programme to introduce large, modern, and fuel-efficient vessels to further strengthen its fleet competitiveness as well as fleet rebalancing.
Today, OOCL has six G-Class mega-vessels, each with a capacity of approximately 21,000TEU. These vessels were ordered in March 2015, as the first step in OOCL’s expansion into this class of mega vessels for the Asia-Europe trade.
The original plan at that time was to have ordered a second batch of five to six mega vessels. However, this addition to the original order has never happened, cause of several difficulties, such as the market conditions in 2016.
“Balancing this expansion, over the next five years we plan to return or dispose of 13 vessels from our fleet, a total of around 76,000TEU, after successful long-term service in our group,” said OOCL.
“The latest engine technology and other state-of-the-art equipment will be used to achieve greater operational efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, which is consistently in line with our work and commitment to corporate sustainability and environmental protection,” the shipping company added.
