OOCL G-Class Containerships

OOCL Hong Kong is the first of six G-class ultra-large container ships ordered by OOCL. Credit: OOCL.

OOCL Hong Kong vessel was christened in May 2017. Credit: OOCL.

Christening of OOCL Japan was held in September 2017. Credit: OOCL.

OOCL G-Class vessels are the world’s biggest container ships by capacity. Credit: OOCL.

Container carrying capacity of the OOCL G-Class ships is 21,413TEU. Credit: OOCL.

OOCL Germany was christened in August 2017. Credit: OOCL.

OOCL United Kingdom containership was delivered in September 2017. Credit: OOCL.

South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) is constructing a series of six G-Class ultra-large container ships for Hong Kong-based shipping company OOCL (Orient Overseas Container Line).

OOCL Hong Kong is the first ship in the G-class and is claimed to be the world’s biggest container ship by carrying capacity.

The containerships will be deployed on a 77-day round trip to serve the Asia-Europe trade lane on the LL1 service.

The ships’ port rotation route is currently scheduled to be Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Yantian, Singapore, via Suez Canal, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Gdansk, Wilhelmshaven, Felixstowe, via Suez Canal, Singapore, Yantian, Shanghai.

OOCL G-Class design and features

The G-Class containerships have been classified by the American Bureau of Shipping and are built to the latest standards of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The ship’ ‘design also satisfies the current Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) baseline requirement.

Each cargo ship in the OOCL G-Class has a moulded breadth of 58.8m, moulded depth of 32.5m and draught of 16.03m.

The overall length of the ship is 400m and the length between perpendiculars is 383m.

The vessel has a deadweight of 191,317t and is capable of carrying 21,413 twenty-foot equivalent units’ (TEUs) worth of containers in 23 rows.

Its gross and net weights are 210,890GRT and 63,279NRT respectively.

The vessel will be able to carry 14,904m³ of fuel.

Deck machinery

The containership is equipped with a set of mooring and anchor winches built by Polish firm Towimor.

Equipment installed on-board the vessel includes ten units of 35T tension force electrically driven, double-drum mooring winches and a pair of combined electrically driven mooring winches / anchor windlasses, which have been designed to be compatible with a 142mm-calibre anchor chain.

Omnitech Electronics’ digital shaft alignment monitoring system (DSAM) has also been installed on the ships to provide real-time monitoring of the propeller shaft alignment and bearing conditions in order to increase overall safety.

OOCL G-Class construction details

OOCL originally placed a $950m order with SHI in April 2015 for the construction of six large containerships

The keel for the first of six ships, OOCL Hong Kong (hull no H2172), was laid at SHI’s shipyard in Geoje Island, South Korea, in December 2015.

OOCL Hong Kong was launched in December 2016 and delivered in May 2017.

The second vessel, OOCL Germany (hull no H2173), was launched in April 2017 and christened in August 2017.

OOCL took delivery of the third and fourth containerships, OOCL Japan (hull no H2174) and OOCL United Kingdom (hull no H2175) respectively, in September 2017.

The remaining vessels are due to be christened at the end of 2017.

Propulsion

The OOCL G-Class containerships are equipped with two-stroke, in-line, 11-cylinder MAN Diesel & Turbo (MDT) G-type 11G95ME-C9 engines, which generates 83,656hp of power at 79rpm.

The engine consumes less fuel and emits less CO₂ than other models and uses high-quality cylinder oil lubricant supplied by Shell.

Four 4,300kW generator sets and two bow thrusters have been installed to provide power for the onboard machinery.

The ships are also outfitted with a number of energy-saving systems such as propellers, fixed-pitch propellers and a pair of shafts, as well as rudder bulbs and stators.

The vessel offers a service speed of 14.6k and maximum speed of 21k.