Overseas Containers Limited (OCL) was a container shipping company formed by a consortium of British shipping companies in 1965. It was taken over by P&O in 1986. It is not to be confused with Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL).
In the early days of containerisation considerable investment was still required in the necessary infrastructure to transport and handle shipping containers, and many shipping companies formed consortia to ease the financial burden. OCL was formed in 1965 by four British companies: British and Commonwealth Shipping, Furness Withy, P&O and the Ocean Steamship Company.[1] Between 1969 and 1970 OCL took delivery of its first ships, a fleet of six vessels of 27,000 gross register tons (GRT) and 1,900 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) capacity for the UK/Europe to Australia route. Initially operating from a set of offices in Bevis Marks, London, OCL later moved to custom built offices on Braham Street, a few hundred yards away on a traffic island at the end of Commercial Road. The service was inaugurated on 6 March 1969 by Encounter Bay undertaking her maiden voyage, and OCL overcame heavy losses in the first years of operations to become one of the world's leading container lines.
The first trade route was the Australia/UK one followed later by the Far East/UK route. Initial arrivals in Europe intended for the UK had to be diverted and transhipped via Rotterdam, because of unresolved industrial disputes in UK ports.
OCL played a leading role in the development of CAMEL - the standardised format for electronic manifests. By 1982 OCL was Europe's largest container through transport operator with a fleet of 20 containerships and more than 60,000 container units. It served more than 50 major ports and, in 1980, transported more than a quarter of a million container loads of import and export cargo on a route network linking locations throughout four continents. One company, P&O, gradually increased its share of the consortium until in 1986 it bought the remaining 53% held by Ocean Transport and Trading (as The Ocean Steamship Company was by then known) and British & Commonwealth. On 1 January 1987 the name OCL ceased to exist, the operation becoming known as P&O Containers Ltd (P&OCL). In 1996 P&O Containers merged with Nedlloyd to form P&O Nedlloyd. August 2005 saw the completion of a buyout of P&O Nedlloyd by the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group and in February 2006 the name Maersk Line was adopted for the combined fleets.
Shipsedit
Tokyo Bay passing Southampton's dry dock in 1995
Container ships sailing for the company under the OCL banner were characterised by their green hulls with white topping, white superstructure and green funnels bearing the initials OCL in white letters. All OCL ships' names ended in Bay, such as Encounter Bay, Tokyo Bay, Liverpool Bay, Resolution Bay and Mairangi Bay. Subsidiary operations such as the Australia- Japan Container Line did not follow this trend, instead having names such as Arafura and Aotea. When OCL became P&OCL, there was a slight modification to the ships' colour scheme, the hulls becoming completely green and the OCL logo on the funnels being replaced with the P&O logo. Later the hulls and funnels were painted dark blue.. The naming convention was retained, and in June 2006 there were still a couple of Bay ships in the Maersk Line fleet.
Referencesedit
^. Archived from the original on 7 January 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
Further readingedit
Howarth, David; Howarth, Stephen (1986). The Story of P&O. The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Graham, Michael; Graham, Patricia; Swire, Adrian; Michael Penney; Ken Owen; Michael Heron; Bob Straffen; Marion Ward; Pat Moore; John Richardson; Anton Ratnayake (2009). Bott, Alan (ed.). British Box Business: A History of OCL (Overseas Containers Ltd). SCARA. ISBN0-9559227-0-4.
External linksedit
PONLHeritage history 1837-1996
SCARA (OCL/P&OCL/PONL) staff association
P&O Heritage history
P&O Nedlloyd history
December 20, 2023
overseas, containers, limited, container, shipping, company, formed, consortium, british, shipping, companies, 1965, taken, over, 1986, confused, with, orient, overseas, container, line, oocl, limitedmairangi, rotterdamindustryshippingfounded1965defunct1986fat. Overseas Containers Limited OCL was a container shipping company formed by a consortium of British shipping companies in 1965 It was taken over by P amp O in 1986 It is not to be confused with Orient Overseas Container Line OOCL Overseas Containers LimitedMairangi Bay at RotterdamIndustryShippingFounded1965Defunct1986FateTaken over by P amp O ContainersSuccessorP amp O ContainersHeadquartersLondon United KingdomArea servedWorldwideServicesContainer transportationOwnerP amp O Containers Contents 1 History 2 Ships 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External linksHistory editIn the early days of containerisation considerable investment was still required in the necessary infrastructure to transport and handle shipping containers and many shipping companies formed consortia to ease the financial burden OCL was formed in 1965 by four British companies British and Commonwealth Shipping Furness Withy P amp O and the Ocean Steamship Company 1 Between 1969 and 1970 OCL took delivery of its first ships a fleet of six vessels of 27 000 gross register tons GRT and 1 900 twenty foot equivalent units TEU capacity for the UK Europe to Australia route Initially operating from a set of offices in Bevis Marks London OCL later moved to custom built offices on Braham Street a few hundred yards away on a traffic island at the end of Commercial Road The service was inaugurated on 6 March 1969 by Encounter Bay undertaking her maiden voyage and OCL overcame heavy losses in the first years of operations to become one of the world s leading container lines The first trade route was the Australia UK one followed later by the Far East UK route Initial arrivals in Europe intended for the UK had to be diverted and transhipped via Rotterdam because of unresolved industrial disputes in UK ports OCL played a leading role in the development of CAMEL the standardised format for electronic manifests By 1982 OCL was Europe s largest container through transport operator with a fleet of 20 containerships and more than 60 000 container units It served more than 50 major ports and in 1980 transported more than a quarter of a million container loads of import and export cargo on a route network linking locations throughout four continents One company P amp O gradually increased its share of the consortium until in 1986 it bought the remaining 53 held by Ocean Transport and Trading as The Ocean Steamship Company was by then known and British amp Commonwealth On 1 January 1987 the name OCL ceased to exist the operation becoming known as P amp O Containers Ltd P amp OCL In 1996 P amp O Containers merged with Nedlloyd to form P amp O Nedlloyd August 2005 saw the completion of a buyout of P amp O Nedlloyd by the A P Moller Maersk Group and in February 2006 the name Maersk Line was adopted for the combined fleets Ships edit nbsp Tokyo Bay passing Southampton s dry dock in 1995Container ships sailing for the company under the OCL banner were characterised by their green hulls with white topping white superstructure and green funnels bearing the initials OCL in white letters All OCL ships names ended in Bay such as Encounter Bay Tokyo Bay Liverpool Bay Resolution Bay and Mairangi Bay Subsidiary operations such as the Australia Japan Container Line did not follow this trend instead having names such as Arafura and Aotea When OCL became P amp OCL there was a slight modification to the ships colour scheme the hulls becoming completely green and the OCL logo on the funnels being replaced with the P amp O logo Later the hulls and funnels were painted dark blue The naming convention was retained and in June 2006 there were still a couple of Bay ships in the Maersk Line fleet References edit Ocean Liner Museum The Ocean Steamship Company Archived from the original on 7 January 2009 Retrieved 28 March 2009 Further reading editHowarth David Howarth Stephen 1986 The Story of P amp O The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company London Weidenfeld amp Nicolson Graham Michael Graham Patricia Swire Adrian Michael Penney Ken Owen Michael Heron Bob Straffen Marion Ward Pat Moore John Richardson Anton Ratnayake 2009 Bott Alan ed British Box Business A History of OCL Overseas Containers Ltd SCARA ISBN 0 9559227 0 4 External links editPONLHeritage history 1837 1996 SCARA OCL P amp OCL PONL staff association P amp O Heritage history P amp O Nedlloyd history Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Overseas Containers amp oldid 1136502438, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
