It was a great thrill for me personally, when I saw on page 35 of the 23rd June 2017 issue of the Daily Mail, a super photo, spread across half the page, of the Mega Container Carrier OOCL HONG KONG. It was titled ‘NOW THAT’S TITANIC!’ and sub-headed ‘World’s biggest cargo ship docks in Britain.’
The ship was berthed in Felixtowe and looked as if it was loaded to just about her maximum 21,413 teu capacity.
I find it amazing that we are still supposed to be in a partial world-wide recession and yet this 199,000 dwt, 1,312 ft long, 192 ft wide vessel can find a cargo of over 20,000 containers immediately after it is delivered. Especially when she is the first of 6 that were ordered in December 2015 and are all due to be delivered by November this year. Add these 6 newbuilds to the huge number of containers ships that have been delivered in the last decade and I cannot see how worldwide trading can be as bad as everyone in the know is suggesting. Unless some of them are going directly to lay-up, just as the surplus tankers did in the 1970’s??
Why was I so excited to see a photo of the OOCL HONG KONG and to read the good things about her? Well as we proudly announced in April, Solar Solve has supplied 25 SOLASAFE anti-glare roller sunscreens which are installed at the vessels navigation bridge windows as a navigation safety aid to protect the personnel from the vagaries of the sun. We delivered them to our World Wide Distributor based in Pusan, who then ensured they were perfectly installed in plenty of time for the ship’s maiden voyage in May, 3 months earlier that her original delivery date. We have already supplied another 5 ship-sets of 25 SOLASAFE roller sun-screens to Korea for installation on each of the 5 sister vessels.
