The naming ceremony of OOCL Qingdao, an 8063 teu vessel was held today at the Samsung Heavy Industrial Shipyard in Busan. This marks the delivery of the fifth SX class vessels built by Samsung to OOCL.
The Chairman and CEO of OOIL, Mr. C.C. Tung was present to officiate the ceremony and the vessel was named by Mrs. Monse Eldon, wife of Mr. David Eldon, Chairman of HK and Shanghai Corporation Ltd. who was instrumental in the financing of the vessel.
“We are very happy today to witness the naming of OOCL Qingdao. This marks the 5th SX Class vessel delivered to OOCL and at this moment of time is still rated the largest container vessel in the world.” Said Mr. Tung “This new class of vessels will form the backbone of OOCL fleet and enable us to deliver high quality service to our customers.” “And I would like to thank both Samsung and HSBC for helping OOCL to achieve this and of course Mrs. Monse Eldon for doing a wonderful job of naming the vessel.”
The new vessel was named OOCL Qingdao to emphasize the importance of the city to OOCL, which it has served for a number of years. It is also a tribute to the northern China market as a whole. In 2003, Qingdao ranked as the Mainland’s second largest port after Shanghai in terms of foreign trade.
“OOCL Qingdao” will be deployed in the Asia/Europe trade (Loop D) under Grand Alliance service with rotation as follows:
Shanghai / Xiamen / Yantian / Hong Kong / Singapore / Suez / Southampton / Hamburg / Rotterdam / Port Said / Port Kelang / Singapore / Hong Kong and back to Shanghai, a round trip of 56 days.
From Left to right : Mr. J.W.Kim (President, CEO of SHI), Mrs. J.W.Kim,
Mrs. Monse Eldon (Sponsor), Mr. David Eldon, Mrs. Harriet Tung, and Mr. C.C.Tung
Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd (OOCL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. OOCL, headquartered in Hong Kong, is an international container transport and logistics service provider. 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
