Hong Kong-listed Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL) announced it has placed an order with a South Korean shipbuilder for six 20,000-TEU-class box ships for a total contract price of US$951.6 million (about HK$7,422.48 million), or about $158.6 million for each ship.
In an official announcement, OOIL said the agreement was formalized March 31, 2015 with Samsung Heavy Industries.
The vessels are expected to be delivered in 2017.
OOIL said the purchases are seen to improve the quality of customer service it provides and to enhance both the operating efficiency and profitability of the group.
It added: “The group’s fixed assets will increase following delivery of the vessels, whilst current assets will decrease and long-term liabilities will increase depending on the proportion of the purchase price funded from internal resources and external finance.”
The shipping and logistics operator is the latest to purchase box vessels in the 20,000-TEU class, the trend for mega ships having been started by shipping industry leader Maersk in 2011 when it placed an order for 20 units of 18,000-TEU ships.
OOCL Utah goes through christening
In related developments, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), the container shipping division of OOIL, recently named its latest 8,888-TEU container ship in christening ceremonies in Shanghai on March 31.
OOCL Utah is named after the American State of Utah and was built by China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Company.
She is the sixth of the eight 8,888-TEU vessels that OOCL commissioned Hudong-Zhonghua to build.
She will be deployed in the OOCL’s Trans-Pacific SC2 (South China 2) service with the following port rotation: Da Chan Bay, Hong Kong, Yantian, Kaohsiung, Long Beach, Kaohsiung, Xiamen, Hong Kong, and Da Chan Bay.
Her dimensions are an overall length of 335 meters, width of 42.8 meters, depth of 24.8 meters, and designed draft of 13 meters.
