The OOCL ShenZhen was the first of a series of 12 container vessels built by Samsung Heavy Industry for Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL). On April 30, 2003, she was christened at Koji Island, Korea. M.V. "OOCL Shenzhen", is a "SX" class vessel, with the largest declared capacity of the world at 8,063 TEUs. It is also the largest vessel ever built by Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.

Mr. T.R. Chang, CEO of OOCL said in his address at the christening ceremony, " The various new building programs have been in line with our long-term business and internal organic growth plans. We believe that these are what we must concentrate upon and be guided by so as to be prepared for future business growth. By enhancing our fleet, we can remain competitive and provide efficient services to our customers at greater economies of scale."

The SX Class vessels in the series are OOCL Shenzhen, OOCL Long Beach, OOCL Quingdao, OOCL Rotterdam. OOCL Hamburg, OOCL Ningbo, OOCL Atlanta, OOCL Asia, OOCL Europe, OOCL Tianjin, OOCL Southampton, and OOCL Tokyo. They are all registered in Hong Kong, SAR, China and currently serve routes between Asia and Europe.

The OOCL Shenzhen is 1,059.6 ft (323m) long, 1,010.2ft (308m) between perpendiculars, and 140.4ft (42.8m) wide The depth to the main deck is 80.7ft (24.6m) and it has a design draft of 42.6ft (47.6ft summer draft). It has a gross tonnage of 89,097 gt and registers a design deadweight of 99,518 tonnes giving a full load displacement of 133,843 tonnes. She is a giant in every respect - a single 12-cylinder, 93,120 bhp (69,439kW) engine turns a 187,000 lb (85 tonnes) propeller at a top speed of 106 RPM. Despite her colossal size and monstrous engine power, the OOCL Shenzhen is operated by a crew of only 19.

The new generation SX-class vessel is designed with many environmentally-friendly features including specially designed hull which allows the vessel to consume less fuel while maintaining a very high speed of 25.2 knots per hour. She is controlled almost entirely by computer. The vessel is also designed to burn low sulphur fuel with much reduced SOx gases emission to the environment. Tin-free SPC paint is used to reduce toxicity to marine life. All 12 vessels have a double hull arrangement, with the side, bilge and three transverse bottom tanks being used for water ballast and bunker capacity. Heel adjustment is provided by two side tanks, with a heeling pump linked to an automatic system being used for transferring the ballast water across.

CONTAINER CAPACITY

There are nine holds - one aft of the deck house, and eight forward. The lift-on, lift-off pontoon hatch covers were provided by MacGreggor. It can accommodate containers of 20ft, 40ft and 45ft, and heights of 8ft 6in and 9ft 6in. The vessel can carry 3,715 TEU in the holds and another 4,348 units on deck, giving a total of 8,063. There are also 700 refer plugs. In the holds, the units are laid out in nine tiers and 15 rows, whereas on deck they are arranged in seven tiers and 17 rows. Refrigeration in the hold is carried out by a vent fan system. The SASS21 cargo control system is made by Samsung. The ship's boiler is an OEV-700-24x unit manufactured by Osaka, with an output of 7t/hr.

ACCOMMODATION AND WHEELHOUSE

The accommodation block is arranged over seven tiers. It houses the crew of 28 although there is also space for a repair team as required. Above this is the wheelhouse. This contains a range of equipment including three JRC radars and a JRC JAN-3598 integrated bridge system. In case of fire, there is a Saracom Sectional type T 1016 fore detection unit. The NKCO2 cblanket system emits CO2 to put out fire at the scene.

PROPULSION, MANOEUVRING AND POWER

The main engine is a MAN B&W 12K98MC-C design, manufactured by HSD Engine. It is capable of generating an output of 69,439kW with a rotary speed of 106rpm. The main engine drives a six-bladed propeller to produce a speed of 25.2 knots. The propeller is a fixed pitch Nickel Aluminum Bronze type 4 unit, designed and manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy industries. It has a diameter of 8.8m. The main engine also drives a 3,000kW Taiyo SIGW 135-18 alternator. In addition, there are four gensets, comprising Daihatsu 8DK-32C engines with an output of 4,297bhp, driving Taiyo HEW 70C-10 alternators, each with an output of 3,000kW. The vessels are classified by the American Bureau of Shipping under the notation ABS +A1(E) Container Carrier, +AMS, +ACCU' SH, UWLLD, CSC, NIBS.