OOCL Texas named at Yangshan Deepwater Port, Shanghai

OOCL announced on Tuesday, March 11, the christening of its new 4,578 TEU vessel, built by Samsung Heavy Industries.

The vessel was christened the "m.v. OOCL Texas" by the honorable sponsor, Mrs. Barbara Bush. The christening ceremony took place at Yangshan Deepwater Port, Shanghai.

President George H W Bush, Mr. Tung Chee Hwa, Vice-Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Ms. Li Xiaolin, Vice President, Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Mr. Tang Dengjie, Vice Mayor of Shanghai Municipal Government and Mr. J W Kim, President and CEO of Samsung, were the honored guests among the 200 participants at the ceremony.

President George H W Bush, in a speech at the ceremony, said the China - US relationship was the most important bilateral relationship. He highlighted the progress that has been made in the relationship, and said that the christening of the ship represented a close bond between the two nations. President George H W Bush also commented that he was impressed with developments at Yangshan Deepwater Port, and said he was delighted with the arrangements at the christening ceremony.

Mr CC Tung, Chairman and CEO of Orient Overseas International Limited (OOIL), gave the opening address at the ceremony.

“Today’s christening ceremony is a most auspicious occasion. The newest addition to our fleet, the OOCL Texas, helps OOCL to improve the service we provide to our customers, offering greater economies of scale, increased capacity and frequency of sailings,” said Mr Tung. “We are very honored that Mrs Barbara Bush and President George H W Bush could be here today.”

The OOCL Texas departed from Yangshan Deepwater Port at about 21:00 after the ceremony, phasing into the KTX1 service, which has a port rotation of Tokyo / Yokohama / Nagoya / Kobe / Osaka / Kaohsiung / Hong Kong / Singapore / Shekou / Hong Kong / Xiamen.