First 16,828 TEU newbuild for Cosco subsidiary OOCL

December 5, 2024

The container carrier OOCL, which belongs to the state-owned Chinese shipping group Cosco, has started the commissioning of a new series of ships.

Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has christened the “OOCL Bauhinia” in China.

The newbuilding is the first in a series of 16,828 TEU vessels ordered from the DACKS (Dalian Cosco KHI Ship Engineering) shipyard, which also belongs to Cosco. The series comprises a total of ten ships. At the same time, “OOCL Bauhinia” is the company’s first “NeoPanamax” class freighter in the last decade.

It is the first time that a series of ships has been named after flowers. “The choice of Bauhinia, the city flower of Hong Kong, as the name for the first ship in this series has a special meaning for the company, which has been rooted in Hong Kong for 55 years,” said the shipping company acquired by Cosco.

OOCL, Bauhinia, Cosco, DACKS, Dalian, Neubau — “OOCL Bauhinia” was built by Dalian COSCO KHI Ship Engineering (DACKS) (© OOCL)

With a length of 366.99 metres and a width of 51.0 metres, the ship has a design draught of 14.5 metres and a carrying capacity of 16,828 TEU. It is one of the largest ships that can navigate the new locks of the Panama Canal.

Unlike some of the latest 24,000-TEU newbuilds, however, the “OOCL Bauhinia” will not be calling at Europe initially. Instead, it will be deployed on the Trans-Pacific Trade PCC1 service, which connects Asia with the west coast of the USA. The port rotation is: Ningbo / Shanghai / Pusan / Long Beach / Pusan / Ningbo / Shanghai in a 42-day round trip.

OOCL had chosen Xiaoli Ma, Managing Director of COSCO-HIT Terminals (Hong Kong) and Deputy Managing Director of Asia Container Terminals, as godmother.

Peter Pan, Director and Member of the Executive Committee of OOCL, expressed his gratitude to DACKS at the ceremony: “Following the delivery of 24,000 TEU vessels, you have once again demonstrated exceptional craftsmanship in the construction of this new generation 16,000 TEU container ship. This ship has advanced environmentally friendly and energy-saving technologies, as well as large cargo capacity and high intelligence, achieving world-class comprehensive advantages.”