Milestones - 2018
December
On December 4, 2018, OOCL was presented with two “Best Container Liner Award 2018” by the Thai National Shippers’ Council (TNSC) to recognize our outstanding performance in the “North America” and “Far East Asia and ASEAN” service routes. This annual awards program is given to container liners that are evaluated by Thai exporters on 18 criteria, including vessel schedule frequency, on-time delivery, and equipment availability.
OOCL received resounding applause from industry peers for the coveted Company of the Year win at the Lloyd's List Global Awards ceremony in London on December 11, 2018. This top honor in the awards program pays tribute to an organization with marked achievements in areas such as operational excellence, digital innovation and for maintaining an outstanding reputation in the industry.
November
On November 22, 2018, OOCL Australia was presented with the Shipping Line – North East Asia Trade Award and the Liner Customer Service Award at the Australian Shipping & Maritime Industry Awards 2018 hosted by the Daily Cargo News.
OOCL announced new South Africa direct services, namely the South Africa Service 1 (SAF1), South Africa Service 2 (SAF2), South Africa Service 3 (SAF3) to further expand our African service network to South Africa with direct calls to strategic ports including Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.
On November 6, 2018, nine leading ocean carriers and terminal operators signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the China International Import Expo 2018 in Shanghai to form a consortium to develop the Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN), an open digital platform based on distributed ledger technology. The participants include ocean carriers CMA CGM, COSCO SHIPPING Lines, Evergreen Marine, OOCL, and Yang Ming; terminal operators DP World, Hutchison Ports, PSA International Pte Ltd, and Shanghai International Port; and software solutions provider CargoSmart. The new platform will establish a digital baseline that aims to connect all stakeholders to enable collaborative innovation and digital transformation in the supply chain.
October
On October 29, 2018, OOCL was presented with 11 Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System (AMVER) Awards for the year 2017 at the annual Hong Kong Shipowners Association Luncheon. Sponsored by the United States Coast Guard (USCG), AMVER is a worldwide voluntary program that facilitates the rapid engagement of merchant ships in rescue operations at sea.
In the continual expansion of our business network in the African market, OOCL introduced new West Africa direct services, namely the West Africa Service 1 (WAF1), West Africa Service 3 (WAF3) and Mediterranean—West Africa (MAF). These new products provide customers with competitive and reliable services between West Africa and Asia and the West Mediterranean.
To expand our business network in the Latin America market and to meet the growing demand for quality services in this region, OOCL introduced new Asia–Latin America products, namely the Transpacific Latin Pacific 1 (TLP1) and Transpacific Latin Pacific 2 (TLP2) from October 2018.
September
OOCL introduced new Asia–East Africa products, namely the Asia–East Africa Service 1 (EAX1), Asia–East Africa Service 2 (EAX2), Asia–East Africa Service 3 (EAX3) and Asia–East Africa Service 4 (EAX4) with direct calls to strategic ports to expand our business network in the East African market while meeting the growing demand for quality services in the region.
August
OOCL proudly received the 2018 Singapore Environmental Achievement Award (Regional) at a ceremony held by the Singapore Environment Council’s (SEC) Conference Day event on August 30. The SEAA (Regional) Award category recognizes local or international companies and organizations with outstanding environmental performance in Asia.
In our commitment to the environment and transparency, OOCL announced that its Green House Gas (GHG) Scope 3 reporting and verification had successfully been expanded to include indirect emissions from not only business travel by air for employees of the Hong Kong office, but also from our two terminals, namely the Long Beach Container Terminal in the United States, and the Kaohsiung Container Terminal in Taiwan, China.
On August 6, Orient Overseas (International) Limited and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) announced a loss attributable to equity holders of US$10.3 million for the six-month period ended June 30, 2018, compared with a profit of US$53.6 million for the same period in 2017.
On August 3, Orient Overseas (International) Limited announced the formation of a new board of directors and chief executive officer positions. The board elected Mr. Xu Lirong as Chairman of OOIL and appointed Mr. Huang Xiaowen as the Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Wang Haimin was appointed as Co-Chief Executive Officer of OOCL while Mr. Andy Tung was re-designated as Co-Chief Executive Officer of OOCL.
July
On July 24, COSCO Shipping Holdings Co. Limited completed the acquisition of shares from controlling shareholders in the offer to acquire Orient Overseas (International) Limited, which marks the change of controlling shareholder to COSCO Shipping Holdings Co. Limited.
OOCL outperformed all ocean carriers and achieved the highest total score in the 2018 Canadian Shipper’s Choice Awards. With a total of 459 carriers being evaluated by over 300 shippers, OOCL received the highest total score in the eight categories being evaluated, including on-time performance, information technology, customer service and sustainable transportation practices.
June
Further to COSCO and SIPG’s general offer to all shareholders of OOIL to acquire all issued OOIL shares subject to a set of “pre-conditions” on July 9, 2017, OOIL and COSCO jointly announced on June 29, 2018 that the last pre-condition, clearance by China’s SAMR (State Administration for Market Regulation, the successor agency to MOFCOM on anti-trust matters), has been fulfilled.
OOCL was very honored to be the first carrier in the international transportation and logistics industry to receive the Gol d Award at the 2017 BOCHK Corporate Environmental Leadership Awards ceremony. This distinguished awards program aims to acknowledge outstanding participating organizations for their efforts in promoting environmental and low-carbon best practices in the manufacturing and services sectors in Hong Kong and the Pan Pearl River Delta region.
May
OOCL received the “Outstanding Performance in Port State Control Inspection” award for the year 2017 from the Hong Kong Marine Department which recognizes our strong performance in ship management and for doing our part in upholding the good international standing of the Hong Kong flag in the shipping and maritime community.
OOCL was honored with the “Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence” that recognizes outstanding green management, innovation and commitments towards best practices within our industry sector. In addition to this achievement, OOCL also became one of the first recipients of the new “Outstanding Green Leadership Award” for being one of the top ten performers among 1,600 eligible applicants in 15 industry sectors demonstrating excellent performance in the aspect of green leadership.
April
OOCL announced a new partnership with Microsoft Research Asia, the world-class research arm of Microsoft, in providing cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to improve network operations and achieve efficiencies within the shipping industry. OOCL has always been a pioneer in leveraging technology to make a real business impact and accelerate customer value, in which AI is the key in our digital transformation vision.
March
On March 12, Orient Overseas (International) Limited and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) announced a profit attributable to equity holders for 2017 of US$137.7 million, compared to a loss of US$219.2 million in 2016.
OOCL extended its Mediterranean service network to the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent by introducing a new Middle East / Pakistan / India – West Mediterranean Service (WM3) providing direct linkage between the Middle East, Pakistan, India, Italy, Spain, France and Egypt with more competitive and reliable services than transshipment options and the fastest transit time to the West Mediterranean, particularly to the Italian market. Together with its strategic hubs in Khor Al Fakkan and Jebel Ali connecting its services to various networks in the region, OOCL can offer exceptional flexibility and more shipping options to their customers.
On March 2, 2018, our Kaohsiung Container Terminal received a Golden Vessel Award from the Taiwan International Ports Corporation Ltd., for being one of the terminal operators that achieved more than 1 million TEU in annual throughput for the year 2017, an impressive achievement during a very challenging industry environment.
January
OOCL Indonesia, the last in the series of six 21,413 TEU containerships that OOCL ordered from Samsung Heavy Industries, was christened and named by Mrs. Shirley Peng and Mrs. Mary Liu on January 17, 2018. OOCL Indonesia began her maiden voyage in January and joined her other five sister vessels on OOCL’s Asia-North Europe Loop 1 (LL1) service.
OOCL inaugurated a new intermodal block train service with the first shipment from Yiwu West Station to the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port. With the support from the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port Group, Yiwu Municipal Government and Shanghai Railway Bureau, OOCL can offer this service on a weekly basis linking Yiwu to prominent markets such as the Middle East, Africa, India and Pakistan which are all part of China’s Belt and Road initiative.
