This is a second record for OOCL, with OOCL Shenzhen claiming the title for largest container ship at 8,063 TEUs in April 2003, MANA correspondent reported.
On Friday, OOCL named the third in its line of six 21,413 TEU class container ships OOCL Japan at Samsung Heavy Industries. Like OOCL Hong Kong, OOCL Japan will serve the Asia-Europe trade lane on the LL1 service and her port rotation will be: Shanghai / Ningbo / Xiamen / Yantian / Singapore / via Suez Canal / Felixstowe / Rotterdam / Gdansk / Wilhelmshaven / Felixstowe / via Suez Canal / Singapore / Yantian / Shanghai in a 77-day round trip.
Andy Tung, CEO of OOCL, said he is pleased with operations with the company's alliance partners, including the LL1 service, that was launched in April.
Commenting on the timing of the deployment of our 21,413 TEU vessels this year, Tung said: “The economic growth fundamentals continue to show further improvement so far this year, and under the new industry landscape, we are seeing signs of a stronger rebound after witnessing significant volume growth, increased liftings and more sustainable rate levels that are positively impacting revenues in the first half of 2017.