OOCL Kobe Named at the Port of Kobe, Japan
The first of the sixteen 4,578-TEU vessel built by Samsung Heavy Industries for OOCL was named on July 20, 2007 at the Port of Kobe in Japan, followed closely the christening of its sister vessel, OOCL Yokohama in Korea on July 19, 2007.
The newbuilding was named the m.v.OOCL Kobe by sponsor, Tatsuo Yada, Mayor of Kobe, at the port of Kobe, just a few days after the 140th anniversary of the Port.
The Group has always kept its fleet expansion and deployment plans under constant review. The construction of this series of Panamax vessels are in line with the needs
of the industry. OOCL will operate a fleet of 18 of these Panamax class vessels in total once the 16 vessels built by Samsung Heavy industries are delivered, in addition to the two vessels of the same class delivered earlier by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard at the end of 2006.
Mr. Philip Chow, CEO of OOCL said in his commemorative address, “This series of ships was designed with Panama Canal crossing in mind, for serving the important Asia to USEC trade. However, their versatile design will also provide efficient deployment options in many other trades.”
The m.v. OOCL Kobe will be deployed on the KTX1 service. The port rotation is: Tokyo / Yokohama / Nagoya / Kobe / Osaka / Kaohsiung / Hong Kong / Singapore / Shekou / Hong Kong / Xiamen and back to Tokyo in a 21-day round trip.
Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. Headquartered in Hong Kong, OOCL is one of the world's leading container transport and logistics service providers, with more than 230 offices in 58 countries. Linking Asia, Europe, North America, the Mediterranean, the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East and Australia/New Zealand, the company offers transportation services to all major east/west trading economies of the world. OOCL is one of the leading international carriers serving China, providing a full range of logistics and transportation services throughout the country. It is also an industry leader in the use of information technology and e-commerce to manage the entire cargo process. Website: www.oocl.com