OOCL Ningbo, built by Samsung Heavy Industries, was delivered to OOCL today and was named at Beilun Terminal, Port of Ningbo on her maiden voyage.
OOCL Ningbo was named by Mr. Bayin Chaolu, Member of Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Zhejiang Provincial Committee, Secretary of Communist Party of China Ningbo Municipal Committee when he started the fanfare by cutting the rope that was tied to the champagne bottle in front of a crowd of over 400.
L - Mr. Bayin Chaolu, Captain and Mr. C.C. Tung
Mr. CC Tung, Chairman of Orient Overseas Group said, " The naming of this vessel OOCL Ningbo is naturally a recognition of my personal and commercial ties to the city. We hope also that OOCL Ningbo will serve as a symbol of Ningbo's ever increasing role as a gateway for China trade."
The port of Ningbo, is a major transport link to international markets for Ningbo City and Zheijiang Province and also a gateway to China’s hinterland via the Yangtze River. Moreover, the port of Ningbo is a natural deep-water port, which still has plenty of room to expand and as a world-class transportation and logistics hub for containers, oil cargoes and dry cargo such as iron ore.
With a throughput of 2.76 million TEU last year, Ningbo ranks as China’s fifth-largest container port and also experienced the highest growth rate of 48.6% among major mainland ports in 2003.
OOCL has a long history in serving the China market. Ningbo has been a regular port-of-call for OOCL on its Transpacific, Asia-Europe and Intra-Asia services.
OOCL Ningbo will be integrated into the Grand Alliance fleet to serve customers in the Trans-Pacific service (Super Shuttle Express) with a port rotation as follows:
Far East to US (Eastbound)
Port Kelang \ Singapore \ Yantian \ Hong Kong \ Long Beach
US to Far East (Westbound)
Long Beach / Kaohsiung \ Hong Kong \ Shekou \ Singapore \ Port Kelang
OOCL Ningbo
OOCL Ningbo is the largest containership in the world with a declared capacity of 8,063 TEU. OOCL Ningbo is 1,056 feet, or 323 meters, long - nearly the length of four football fields. It is 140 feet, or 42.8 meters wide, wide - enough for 17 containers. This new generation SX-class vessel of the new generation, OOCL Ningbo, is designed with many environmentally-friendly features including specially designed hull which allows the vessel to consume less fuel, but maintain a very high speed of 25 knots per hour. The vessel is also designed to burn Low Sulphur fuel with much reduced SOx gases emission to the environment. Tin-free SPC paint is used to reduce toxicity to marine life. OOCL Ningbo is the sixth of twelve SX-class vessels ordered from Samsung Heavy Industries.
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
