Ultra-large container vessel starts sea trial in east China

NANJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- A 24,188-twenty-foot-equivalent unit (TEU) ultra-large container ship named "OOCL Valencia" left the waters of Yangtze River in Nantong City in east China's Jiangsu Province for sea trial on Tuesday.

With a total length of 399.99 meters and a width of 61.3 meters, the new vessel possesses a capacity to accommodate 24,188 standard containers. It has a deck area that is roughly the size of 3.5 standard football fields.

The ship's maximum load capacity of 228,000 tonnes makes it among the world's largest container ships, according to its manufacturer, Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering Co., Ltd.

It boasts greatly improved operation efficiency and caters to the green, low-carbon and intelligent development trend in the shipping industry.

"OOCL Valencia" is the seventh of the 12 eco-friendly 24,188-TEU vessels ordered by the shipowner, Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. It is scheduled for deployment on the Asia-Europe routes operated by the company.