Orient Overseas Container Line
Encyclopedia
Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) is a Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

-based container
Containerization
Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...

 shipping and logistics service company.

OOCL is one of the world's largest shipping and logistics companies with more than 280 offices in 55 countries around the world, providing 78 services covering international trading markets with a fleet of more than 270 ships, including Grand Alliance member line vessels, feeder and OOCL-owned and operated vessels. OOCL has vessels of different classes with capacity varying from to , and ice-class vessels for extreme weather conditions.

The Grand Alliance was formed in 1998. Its members are Hapag-Lloyd
Hapag-Lloyd
Hapag-Lloyd is a German transportation company comprising a cargo container shipping line, Hapag-Lloyd AG, which in turn owns other subsidiaries such as Hapag-Lloyd Ships and a cruise line, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises which is now integrated into TUI AG, Hanover...

 (Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

), NYK
Nippon Yusen
Japan-based or NYK Line, is one of the largest shipping companies in the world. It is a core Mitsubishi company. The company has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo.-1870-1900:...

 (Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

) and OOCL (Hong Kong).

Mission statement

OOCL claims its mission statement to be the best and most innovative international container transport and logistics
Logistics
Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...

 service provider; providing a Vital Link to world trade and creating value for customers, employees, shareholders and partners..

Liner Services

OOCL offers around 78 weekly services around the world. Linking Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, the Mediterranean, the Indian sub-continent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...

, the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

/New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, the company offers transportation services to all major east/west trading economies of the world. OOCL is one of the leading international carriers serving China, providing a full range of logistics and transportation services throughout the country.

Container Terminals

OOCL affiliated companies own or operate dedicated container terminals in North America and Asia, namely: Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

 Container Terminal in California and KAOCT in Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung is a city located in southwestern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on the west. Kaohsiung, officially named Kaohsiung City, is divided into thirty-eight districts. The city is one of five special municipalities of the Republic of China...

, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

.

Information technology

Starting from 1993, after six years of research, the group succeeded in rolling out an IT system that was specially designed for the container shipping industry, Integrated Regional Information System (IRIS-2), in 1999. IRIS-2 integrates the business processes of all OOCL offices, customers' shipments and financial information into one system. OOCL was a finalist for the coveted Smithsonian Institution Award for Innovation in 1999 for the groundbreaking achievements with IRIS-2. IRIS-2 is written in GemStone/S Smalltalk
Smalltalk
Smalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed, reflective programming language. Smalltalk was created as the language to underpin the "new world" of computing exemplified by "human–computer symbiosis." It was designed and created in part for educational use, more so for constructionist...

, making it one of the largest Smalltalk applications in the world.

Environmental Care

OOCL was the first container shipping line in the world to have achieved the Safety, Quality and Environmental (SQE) Management System certification (which consolidates the ISM-Code, ISO9001.2000 and ISO14001 requirements).

OOCL maintained a 100 percent compliance with the Port of Long Beach Green Flag program in 2006 and 2007. OOCL donated its rebates, totaling US$140,000, back to community projects and charities in Long Beach.

OOCL also complies with the Qualship 21 program, which identifies quality operation of non-US flagged vessels, and holds the most rigid safety and pollution-prevention standards in the world.

OOCL has a had a voluntary fuel saving program in place since 2001, which is the most effective way to cut down on greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...

es (especially CO2). Initiatives to minimize fuel consumption include:
  • Weather-routing systems to provide shorter routes safely
  • Optimum trim (balance of cargo) and minimum ballast water
  • Fuel injections and exhaust valve timing control for better efficiency
  • Shaft generator and exhaust gas economizer for generating electricity
  • Regular maintenance to keep the ship clean and free of marine growths such as barnacle
    Barnacle
    A barnacle is a type of arthropod belonging to infraclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in erosive settings. They are sessile suspension feeders, and have...

    s, algae
    Algae
    Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

     and mollusks. This maintenance includes polishing the propeller and hull, and monitoring engine performance.


OOCL conducted a Shore Power Study (in 2003) and a Sea Water Scrubber Study (in 2005) in order to compile different ways to reduce emissions at both port and sea.

In 1992, five years in advance of the Montreal Protocol
Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion...

 - an international treaty designed to protect the Earth's ozone layer
Ozone layer
The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone . This layer absorbs 97–99% of the Sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to the life forms on Earth...

 - OOCL chose to change the design of its refrigerated container machinery in order to eliminate the production of CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons). Today, OOCL only uses CFC-free refrigerants in all its reefer containers.

OOCL voluntarily complied eight months early with the Port of Long Beach “Clean Truck Program”. From 1 Jan 2008, OOCL stopped using pre-1989 trucks for all port moves between Southern Californian terminals and off-dock rail ramps, again helping to reduce emissions.

Community Responsibility

The "Tung OOCL Scholarship" was set up in 1995 to support the continued education of young people. Currently, the Tung OOCL Scholarship comprises two programs: University Scholarship Program (China) and Employee's Children Scholarship Program.

The University Scholarships have been established in six renowned universities. They are Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...

, Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...

, Fudan University
Fudan University
Fudan University , located in Shanghai, is one of the oldest and most selective universities in China, and is a member of the C9 League. Its institutional predecessor was founded in 1905, shortly before the end of China's imperial Qing dynasty...

, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Zhejiang University
Zhejiang University
Zhejiang University , sometimes referred to as Zheda, is a national university in China. Founded in 1897, Zhejiang University is one of China's oldest institutions of higher education...

 and Nanjing University
Nanjing University
Nanjing University , or Nanking University, is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher learning in China...

. Since the establishment of the scholarship more than 2,500 undergraduate and post-graduate students have been awarded scholarships with more than US$2.3 million in funding. Every year, a selection panel is set up in each university to shortlist potential candidates, based on academic results and performance, plus active participation in extracurricular activities.

Based on the same selection criteria, the Employees' Children Scholarship is awarded annually to the children of employees in all OOCL offices in all countries and regions.

OOCL also participates in many other types of community support with worthy purposes. One of the major and on-going projects that OOCL is involved in is Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere). OOCL is assisting with the transportation of the latest diagnostic medical equipment and supplies from the United States (donated by global corporations) to Shanghai Children's Hospital
Shanghai Children's Hospital
Shanghai Children's Hospital , formerly known as Underprivileged Children's Hospital, is one of the earliest founded children's hospitals in China, and a prominent comprehensive hospital specialized in children's diseases. Since March, 2003, the hospital has been affiliated to School of Medicine of...

, China.

OOCL sponsors many musicals and shows visiting the Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific or Asia Pacific is the part of the world in or near the Western Pacific Ocean...

 region, including CATS, Phantom of the Opera, We Will Rock You
We Will Rock You
"We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded and performed by Queen for their 1977 album News of the World. Rolling Stone ranked it #330 of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA placed it at #146 on its list of Songs of the Century...

, Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...

 on Ice, Musical Moments and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Security

OOCL participates in the The Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program (C-TPAT) which is a voluntary government-business initiative to build cooperative relationships that strengthen and improve overall international supply chain and U.S. border security.

OOCL also complies with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code
International Ship and Port Facility Security Code
The International Ship and Port Facility Security Code is an amendment to the Safety of Life at Sea Convention on minimum security arrangements for ships, ports and government agencies...

 (ISPS Code). The ISPS Code states that, as threat increases, the only logical counteraction is to reduce vulnerability. Subsequently, ships will be subject to a system of survey, verification, certification, and control to ensure that their security measures are implemented. This system will be based on a considerably expanded control system as stipulated in the 1974 Convention for Safety of Life at Sea
International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea
The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea is an international maritime safety treaty. The SOLAS Convention in its successive forms is generally regarded as the most important of all international treaties concerning the safety of merchant ships.- History :The first version of the...

 (SOLAS).

OOCL also complies with the Container Security Initiative
Container Security Initiative
The Container Security Initiative was launched in 2002 by the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection , an agency of the Department of Homeland Security. Its purpose was to increase security for container cargo shipped to the United States...

 (CSI) and the US Customs 24-Hour Advance Cargo Manifest Declaration Rule.

OOCL Logistics

OOCL Logistics Ltd. (OLL), the OOIL Group's international freight consolidation and logistics service unit, began in 1979. Services extend from basic freight consolidation services to the management and operation of more comprehensive programs involving multi-modal transportation, warehousing and distribution activities.

History

OOCL was founded by C. Y. Tung
Tung Chao Yung
Tung Chao Yung better known as 董浩雲, , born 18th of the eighth lunar month in 1912; died 15 April 1982), also known as C. Y. Tung, was a Chinese shipping magnate, the founder of the Orient Overseas Line...

 In 1947 as the Orient Overseas Line. It changed its name to Orient Overseas Container Line in 1969, when it began the process of containerization
Containerization
Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...

.

In 1969, OOCL was the first Asian shipping line to transport containerized cargo across the Pacific, and in doing so changed the face of global trade in the Asia Pacific region.

At its peak, OOCL had a shipping fleet with over 150 freight ships, with a cargo capacity exceeding 10 million tons; it was one of the world's top seven shipping lines. At one stage it also owned the Seawise Giant, the largest ship ever built.

The founder of OOCL, the late C Y Tung, dreamed of creating the first international Chinese merchant fleet. In 1947, he achieved that dream when the first ship with all-Chinese crews reached the Atlantic coast of the USA and Europe. Regular cargo and passenger services were subsequently developed under the name of Orient Overseas Line.

When containerization began in 1969, the company was re-named Orient Overseas Container Line. In those days, Victory-class vessels could carry 300 TEU, a far cry from today's post-Panamax vessels that ply the world's oceans. In April 2003, OOCL took delivery of the SX-Class OOCL Shenzhen, then the largest containership ever built at 8,063 TEU, 2006 it was passed by Emma Mærsk
Emma Mærsk
Emma Mærsk is the first container ship in the E-class of eight owned by the A. P. Moller-Maersk Group. When she was launched in 2006, Emma Mærsk was the largest container ship ever built...

.

After C. Y. Tung's death in 1982, C. H. Tung
Tung Chee Hwa
Tung Chee Hwa, GBM was the first Chief Executive and President of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China....

, assumed the leadership of Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL), OOCL's parent company for 14 years. In 1996, C C Tung took over at the helm on C H Tung's election as Chief Executive of the Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 Special Administrative Region.

In September 1970, Tung purchased the famous oceanliner RMS Queen Elizabeth
RMS Queen Elizabeth
RMS Queen Elizabeth was an ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line. Plying with her running mate Queen Mary as a luxury liner between Southampton, UK and New York City, USA via Cherbourg, France, she was also contracted for over twenty years to carry the Royal Mail as the second half of the two...

to convert it into a floating university, to be known as Seawise University, in his efforts to keep the World Campus Afloat program alive. On 9 January 1972, the ship caught fire during refurbishing and sank into Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour
Victoria Harbour
Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour situated between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on the South China Sea were instrumental in Hong Kong's establishment as a British colony and its subsequent...

 and the wreckage had to be scrapped three years later.

In 2003 OOCL lost one of its senior executives - Courtenay Allan, who was at the time its Transatlantic Trade Director. Courtenay died after falling down a lift shaft on one of its ships, the OOCL Montreal in Le Havre. In 2007 the case has moved on where the French Authorities are investigating in various jurisdictions around the world to establish the facts behind the case. Various initiatives by the Allan family have included a visit to Hong Kong with C. C. Tung - Chairman of OOCL in December 2006.

There are many other shipping companies whose history has become part of OOCL by absorption. These include Furness Withy
Furness Withy
Furness Withy was a major British transport business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange.-History:The Company was founded by Christopher Furness and Henry Withy in 1891 in Hartlepool. This was achieved by the amalgamation of the Furness Line of steamers with the business of Edward Withy and...

, Houlder Brothers
Houlder Line
The Houlder Line were a number of related British Shipping companies originally established by the Houlder brothers. was operated by the Houlder Line and was torpedoed in the North Atlantic in 1940. was operated by the Houlder Line...

, Manchester Liners
Manchester Liners
Manchester Liners was a cargo and passenger shipping company, founded in 1898, based in Manchester, England. The line pioneered the regular passage of ocean-going vessels along the Manchester Ship Canal. Its main sphere of operation was the transatlantic shipping trade, but the company also...

, Shaw Savill, PSNC
Pacific Steam Navigation Company
The Pacific Steam Navigation Company was a commercial shipping company that operated in the Pacific coast of South America, and was the first to use steam ships for commercial traffic in the Pacific Ocean.-History:...

, Prince Line & the Alexander Shipping Company.

See also

  • Tung Chao Yung
    Tung Chao Yung
    Tung Chao Yung better known as 董浩雲, , born 18th of the eighth lunar month in 1912; died 15 April 1982), also known as C. Y. Tung, was a Chinese shipping magnate, the founder of the Orient Overseas Line...

  • Seawise Giant
  • Orient Overseas (International) Limited
    Orient Overseas (International) Limited
    Orient Overseas Limited is a investment holding company which involves in international transportation and logistics, and property investment and property development. It is the parent company of Orient Overseas Container Line , one of the world's leading container transport and logistics...

  • Furness Withy
    Furness Withy
    Furness Withy was a major British transport business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange.-History:The Company was founded by Christopher Furness and Henry Withy in 1891 in Hartlepool. This was achieved by the amalgamation of the Furness Line of steamers with the business of Edward Withy and...

  • Houlder Brothers
    Houlder Line
    The Houlder Line were a number of related British Shipping companies originally established by the Houlder brothers. was operated by the Houlder Line and was torpedoed in the North Atlantic in 1940. was operated by the Houlder Line...

  • Shaw Savill
  • Pacific Steam Navigation Company
    Pacific Steam Navigation Company
    The Pacific Steam Navigation Company was a commercial shipping company that operated in the Pacific coast of South America, and was the first to use steam ships for commercial traffic in the Pacific Ocean.-History:...

  • Manchester Liners
    Manchester Liners
    Manchester Liners was a cargo and passenger shipping company, founded in 1898, based in Manchester, England. The line pioneered the regular passage of ocean-going vessels along the Manchester Ship Canal. Its main sphere of operation was the transatlantic shipping trade, but the company also...


External links

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