Chinese shipping major Orient Overseas Container Lines has done a deal with Seaspan to charter six new containership, each with a capacity of 13,000 TEU.
With a price tag of 11.2 billion Chinese Renminbi (USD$1.57 billion; AUD$2.39 billion), delivery of the vessels is due from the fourth quarter of 2026 to the first quarter of 2028 and the charter will run for 15 years from delivery.
Commenting on the deal, OOCL stated: “OOCL has been continuously assessing the global economic situation, operating environment of the shipping industry, the supply and demand for container vessels as well as seeking the appropriate timing to introduce larger, modern and energy-saving vessels to further enhance the structure and the competitiveness of its fleet.
OOCL operates nine services with Australian calls and a further two more with New Zealand calls. In Q3, the group made 922,219 lifts intra-Asia / Australasia, approximately 5.3% up on the same period in the previous year. In the first three quarters of 2024, the group lifted just under 2.67 million TEU in the intra-Asia / Australasia region, which is a 7.7% increase on the same time period in the previous year.
Orient Overseas Container Line is a public company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX: 0316). Headquartered in Hong Kong, China, OOCL has 130 offices in more than 100 major cities. OOCL is a member of The Ocean Alliance, which also counts COSCO Shipping, CMA CGM, and Evergreen among its members. The Ocean alliances covers seven major east / west trades.