The G class is a series of container ships built for

OOCL Orient Overseas Container Line, commonly known as OOCL, is a container shipping and logistics service company with headquarters in Hong Kong. The company is incorporated in Hong Kong as Orient Overseas Container Line Limited and separately inc ...

. With a maximum theoretical capacity of 21,413 TEU they were the largest container ships in the world when they were built and the first ships with a capacity larger than 21,000 TEU. They took the title of largest container ships from ''

Madrid Maersk ''Madrid Maersk'' was the largest container ship at the time of launch, but was surpassed shortly after by the launch of OOCL Hong Kong, and she was the second container ship to surpass the 20,000- TEU threshold, after the MOL Triumph. She was b ...

'' (20,568 TEU). They have since been surpassed by other ships like the (23,756 TEU) and the (23,964 TEU). The ships have 24 container bays. Containers can be placed 23 wide on deck and 21 wide below deck.

History

In April 2015

Samsung Heavy Industries Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (Korean: 삼성중공업) is one of the largest shipbuilders in the world and one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea (including Hyundai and Daewoo). Geoje (in Gyeongsangnam-do) is one of the largest ...

announced it had received an order from OOCL to build six container ships of 21,100 TEU for a total cost of 950 million USD. The first ship, the ''OOCL Hong Kong'', was christened on 12 May 2017. On 18 October 2017 the ''OOCL Japan'' suffered a mechanical failure while traversing the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

, causing the ship to

run aground Ship grounding or ship stranding is the impact of a ship on seabed or waterway side. It may be intentional, as in beaching to land crew or cargo, and careening, for maintenance or repair, or unintentional, as in a marine accident. In accidenta ...

. She was quickly pulled free by

tugs A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

and was able to continue her maiden voyage to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The same thing happened again less than a year later. On 6 June 2018 the ''OOCL Japan'' again suffered a steering failure while in the Suez Canal. This time she struck the embankment causing damage to a road.

List of ships

References

{{reflist Container ship classes Ships built by Samsung Heavy Industries Ships of the Orient Overseas Container Line

History

List of ships

See also

References