Thomas L. Gallagher | Sep 04, 2009 12:37PM EDT
OOCL on Sept. 4 christened the ninth Panamax class vessel in its line of sixteen 4,500-TEU vessels ordered from Samsung Heavy Industries.
New capacity in the container trade is rare these days as no new orders have been placed in the last nine months, according to leading London shipbroker Clarkson. The world fleet is shrinking as carriers and charter ship owners are generally in a buying freeze trying to cope with falling freight rates and shrinking cargo volume.
The new vessel was christened the m.v. OOCL New Zealand by sponsor Simone Cranwell, the wife of Steven Cranwell, regional general manager of institutional and business banking for the National Australia Bank in Asia.
“Having Mrs. Cranwell as the sponsor of OOCL New Zealand recognizes OOCL’s invaluable relationship with the National Australia Bank,” said Ken Cambie, chief financial officer of OOIL Group.
“These Panamax ships are exceptionally versatile and they help OOCL to enhance our services. They can be used in our Intra-Asia trade, in our Australia/New Zealand trade and they can transit the Panama Canal,” said Cambie. “Samsung Heavy Industries has built many great ships for OOCL, combining optimum performance with cost efficiency. With such vessels, OOCL can improve the service we provide to our customers, offering greater economies of scale, increased capacity and higher frequency of sailings. These excellent vessels have greatly enhanced OOCL’s competitive edge.”
The OOCL New Zealand will be deployed on the Asia-Australia AAA 2 service. The port rotation is: Port Kelang/ Singapore/ Fremantle/ Melbourne/ Adelaide/ Fremantle and back to Port Kelang on a 28-day round trip.
Contact Thomas L. Gallagher at tgallagher@joc.com.
