On March 22, 2018, the naming ceremony for the 20,000 TEU containership COSCO SHIPPING LEO, which was built by Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co., Ltd. (NACKS) affiliated to COSCO SHIPPING Heavy Industry, was held in Nantong.
Chairman and Party Secretary of COSCO SHIPPING Capt. Xu Lirong, Executive Vice President of COSCO SHIPPING Mr. Yu Zenggang and Vice Mayor of Nantong Mr. Lu Weidong, as well as guests and representatives from COSCO SHIPPING, COSCO SHIPPING Lines, COSCO SHIPPING Heavy Industry, Lloyd’s Register, and China Classification Society attended the ceremony on invitation. Ms. Li Sixuan named the vessel and cut the ribbon.
As a sister ship of the previously delivered COSCO SHIPPING ARIES, COSCO SHIPPING LEO is the second 20,000 TEU ultra-large containership (ULCS) in the serial vessels built by NACKS for COSCO SHIPPING Lines.
The construction period of COSCO SHIPPING LEO was one month shorter than that of its sister ship, setting a new record of ULCS building period made by NACKS itself. Over just two months, the sister ships were successfully delivered and named. It demonstrated the extraordinary competitiveness of COSCO SHIPPING in building mega ships in the world.
According to plan, COSCO SHIPPING LEO will start the sea trials on March 27. On April 10, it will join the COSCO SHIPPING Lines fleet to serve on the Far East-Northwest Europe loop (AEU3), providing greater support for COSCO SHIPPING Lines to further optimize its global liner route planning and improve its global container shipping service.
The port rotation of AEU3 is Piraeus (Greece), Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Hamburg (Germany) and Antwerp (Belgium).
It will offer rapid and stable shipping service from North China, East China and Southeast Asia to the Mediterranean and Northwest Europe.
Source: COSCO Shipping