Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

based

investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

involved in international

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

and

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

, and property investment and property development. It is the parent company of

Orient Overseas Container Line 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 ...

(OOCL), one of the world's

largest container shipping companies Several shipping lines are involved in intermodal freight transport as part of international trade. List of largest container shipping companies This is a list of the 30 largest container shipping companies as of 11 August 2022, according to ' ...

History

Orient Overseas

Founder of Orient Overseas,

Tung Chao-yung Tung Chao-yung or C. Y. Tung (; 28 September 1912 – 15 April 1982), also known as Tung Hao-yun, ), was a Chinese shipping magnate, the founder of the Orient Overseas Line (now Orient Overseas Container Line or OOCL). He was the father of Tung ...

, operated the first all-Chinese crewed ship between Hong Kong and Europe and the east coast of the United States in 1947. However, Tung Chao-yung already established his Hong Kong operation in 1937. He was the vice-president of Shipowners Association in Tianjin at that time. Tung Chao-yung then named the company Orient Overseas Line. In 1969, the business was renamed as

. The holding company of the group, Orient Overseas Container (Holdings) Limited, was incorporated on 27 February 1973. It was a

listed company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( lis ...

, and Kam Ngan stock exchanges since May 1973. These exchanges were merged in 1986.

Jardine Matheson Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited (also known as Jardines) is a Hong Kong-based Bermuda-domiciled British multinational conglomerate. It has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and secondary listings on the Singapore Exchange and ...

was a minority shareholder of the listed company. In 1973, Orient Overseas Line purchased passenger liner '' SS President Cleveland'' and renamed ''Oriental President''. In 1974, Orient Overseas Container (Holdings) acquired a bulk freighter company from the Tung family's C.Y. Tung Group, for HK$43 million. In 1976, the listed company acquired additional assets from the Tung family, including two container ships and 33% shares of another container shipping company,

Dart Container Service Dart Containerline Co Ltd (as it was incorporated in Bermuda) was a consortium of shipping companies that commenced operations in 1969, thus becoming one of the first container shipping operators. The consortium comprised Compagnie Maritime Belg ...

. In 1980, Orient Overseas Container (Holdings) acquired a British shipping company, Furness, Withy & Co. Shortly before the death of Tung Chao-yung in 1982,

Tung Chee-hwa Tung Chee-hwa (; born 7 July 1937) is a Hong Kong businessman and politician who served as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2005, upon the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July. He is currently a vice-chairman of the Chin ...

, his eldest son, succeeded to be the chairman of Orient Overseas. In 1983, Orient Overseas Container (Holdings) Limited, was renamed to Orient Overseas (Holdings) Limited.Hong Kong Companies Registry In February 1986, Orient Overseas (Holdings) Limited submitted a plan to the creditors for re-structuring the group of companies, including the formation of a new business unit centered on

Limited. In October,

Crédit Commercial de France The ''Crédit Commercial de France'' (CCF, "Commercial Credit ompanyof France") is a commercial bank in France, founded in 1894 as the ''Banque Suisse et Française'' and renamed to CCF in 1917. By the end of the 1920s, it had grown to be the six ...

cancelled the application to the court on liquidate Orient Overseas. Orient Overseas was suspended in the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK) due to its financial problem, which the suspension was lifted in February 1987. In the same year, Orient Overseas announced to consider to close down the oil drilling business unit. In November, the group announced to sell some subsidiaries of group, such as Kuwait Hong Kong General Insurance and others companies. The insurance and oil drilling businesses were acquired by China Merchants Group. In May 1988, Orient Overseas acquired additional stakes in the Terminal No. 2, 4 and 6 of

Kwai Tsing Container Terminals Kwai Tsing Container Terminals is the main port facilities in the reclamation along Rambler Channel between Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi Island, Hong Kong. It evolved from four berths of Kwai Chung Container Port () completed in the 1970s. It late ...

from

Hongkong International Terminals Hongkong International Terminals Limited (HIT) () is one of several key container port operators in the Port of Hong Kong owned by Hutchison Port Holdings, which is the largest port operator in Hong Kong and the world. HIT operates 12 berths i ...

Limited.

Orient Overseas (International) Limited

Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL), was incorporated in Bermuda on 29 July 1986. Some time later, it became the new holding company of the group. OOIL became a listed company on 31 July 1992. OOIL's predecessor, Orient Overseas (Holdings) Limited (OOHL), ceased to become a listed company in the same year. Each OOHL's share is offered 1.08431411 shares of OOIL in exchange. Orient Overseas (Holdings) was deregistered and dissolved in 2005. The listed company also sold the stake in Furness Withy and the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals during its restructuring. The company paid dividend again in 1994, the first time since the restructuring. In 1996,

Tung Chee-chen Tung Chee-chen, GBS, SBS, JP (; born 15 December 1942) is a Hong Kong billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and chief executive of shipping company Orient Overseas and a member of the One Country Two Systems Research Institute, a pro ...

, Tung Chao-yung's younger son and Tung Chee-wah's younger brother, took over the chairman position of OOIL, since Tung Chee-wah's election as

Chief Executive of Hong Kong The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and head of the Government of Hong Kong. The position was created to replace the office of governor of ...

. In 2006, Orient Overseas sold four container terminals to the

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (french: Régime de retraite des enseignantes et des enseignants de l'Ontario) is an independent organization responsible for administering defined-benefit pensions for school teachers of the Canadian pr ...

. In July 2017, OOIL received a US$6.3 billion take over bid from its Chinese rival,

COSCO Shipping China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, abbreviated as COSCO Shipping, is a Chinese state-owned multinational conglomerate headquartered in Shanghai. The group is focused on marine transportation services. COSCO Shipping was established in J ...

. The bid has been accepted by the Tung family, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. The takeover was completed in 2018. In April 2019, OOIL sold a container terminal in Long Beach to Macquarie Group for US$1.78 billion. In May 2019,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

was denied to lease Wall Street Plaza, an office building located in New York. The building is owned by Orient Overseas' subsidiary, Orient Overseas Associates.

References

External links

* {{Hang Seng Index Conglomerate companies of Hong Kong Logistics companies of China Shipping companies of Hong Kong Shipping companies of Bermuda Transport companies established in 1947 1947 establishments in Hong Kong Transport companies established in 1986 1986 establishments in Hong Kong Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange COSCO Shipping Offshore companies of Bermuda