OOCL Luxembourg named at Geoje Shipyard, Korea

OOCL announced on April 30, 2010, the christening of its newest vessel, the OOCL Luxembourg, the sixteenth in the company’s line of sixteen 8,063 TEU vessels on order from Samsung Heavy Industries.
The OOCL Luxembourg was named by His Excellency Jeannot Krecké, Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade of Luxembourg.

Mr. CC Tung, Chairman and CEO of OOIL Group, hosted the ceremony which was held at Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard on Geoje Island, Korea. Guests of honor included His Excellency Paul Steinmetz, Luxembourg Ambassador to Japan; Mr. I S Roh, President and CEO of Samsung Heavy Industries; and Mr SY Bae, President and Shipyard General Manager of Samsung Heavy Industries.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Tung said, “The new vessel is named after the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which is a thriving financial centre and a fast-growing logistics and transportation hub, not only for the Benelux region but also as a gateway to the rest of Europe.”

Mr. Tung added, “With Expo 2010 commencing tomorrow in Shanghai, people from around the world will be again focused on China – and even more so given the surge in both its export and import growth seen so far this year. But it remains essential that growth be on a sustainable basis. In our industry, we have clearly seen the dramatic impact on profitability when imbalances occur between demand and supply. The improvement in container shipping rates remains fragile and an excessive focus on market share could easily see the recovery in our sector falter, despite the recovery in global trade conditions.”

The OOCL Luxembourg will be deployed on the EU Loop C service, in response to the rapid recovery of demand on the Asia-Europe trade.

The port rotation is: Rotterdam / Hamburg / Southampton / Singapore / Shekou / Hong Kong / Kaohsiung /Ningbo / Shanghai / Xiamen / Kaohsiung / Hong Kong / Shekou / Singapore / Port Kelang / Southampton and back to Rotterdam in a 70-day round trip.