The Hong Kong Seaport Alliance (HKSPA) has welcomed the 24,188 TEU containership, OOCL SPAIN, on its maiden voyage.

This is the largest vessel ever to call at the Port of Hong Kong.

Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) introduced the OOCL SPAIN, its first 24,000 TEU vessel, to its fleet in February 2023.

The vessel is deployed on OOCL’s Asia-Europe service LL3 with a port rotation of: Shanghai – Xiamen –Nansha – HongKong – Yantian – Cai Mep – Singapore – Piraeus – Hamburg – Rotterdam – Zeebrugge – Valencia – Piraeus – Abu Dhabi – Singapore – Shanghai.

Under Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Liu Chun San, joined the management teams of Modern Terminals and OOCL to go on board the vessel to greet the ship master and his team.

“We are very pleased to know that the OOCL SPAIN, one of the largest container vessels with the most advanced eco-friendly and intelligent technologies, has called the Port of Hong Kong on her maiden voyage,” said Chu San.

The OOCL SPAIN has been awarded three “Smart Ship” notations by the American Bureau of Shipping in recognition of its use of intelligent technology to optimise operations, helping to improve fuel efficiency, structural health monitoring, and long-term navigational safety.

Kenny Ye, Chief Operating Officer of OOCL Ltd. said: “OOCL SPAIN is extremely significant for our group. She is the first new vessel we have had delivered to us in five years, and the first vessel we have built since joining the COSCO SHIPPING Group.

“Her design includes several technological and structural breakthroughs, in terms of size and capacity, and in terms of eco-friendly features.”

This announcement comes in the same week that Chinese shipbuilder, Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, handed over a 24,116 TEU ultra-large containership to China’s Bank of Communications Financial Leasing to join MSC’s fleet.

This past week has also seen Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) Trust announce the deployment of 5G technology at the container terminals under its Hong Kong operations.