OOCL names first 24,000 teu containership

The naming ceremony for the OOCL Spain was held on Thursday at Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co., Ltd. (NACKS) in Nantong, China.

The newbuilding is OOCL’s first vessel to exceed 24,000 teu in capacity and one of the largest containerships in the world at present. The newbudiling has three smartship notations from classification society ABS.

The vessel was named by Liu Xuewen, Vice President of LONGi Green Energy Technology, a solar technology company.

Kenny Ye, Chief Operating Officer of OOCL., said, “The new vessel OOCL Spain is of great significance to OOCL: OOCL Spain is not only the first newbuilding that has been delivered to us in over five years, but it is also OOCL’s first vessel with a capacity over 24,000 teu.

“More importantly, she is the first newbuilding received by OOCL since the company joined the Cosco Shipping Group, and so it is the first vessel jointly created by OOCL and other sister companies.”

The OOCL Spain will be deployed on the Asia – Europe trade in March. The Asia –  Europe trade is witnessing a sharp decline in freight rates from record levels seen during the pandemic.

Earlier this week OOCL reported that in Q4 2022 on the Asia – Europe trade its revnues declined 46% to $795.3m compared to the same period a year earlier.