EMPRESS Heaven, the new container vessel chartered by the China Ocean Shipping Group (COSCO), made its maiden voyage to Hong Kong this week.
The ship, which can carry 3,500 20 ft equivalent units (TEUs), was built by Taiwan's China Shipbuilding Corp (CSC) for Hong Kong-based Windermere Holdings.
Registered in Panama, Empress Heaven will be deployed on transpacific routes linking Hong Kong, Japan and the US West Coast ports.
Empress Heaven carries a price tag of US$77 million, considerably less than it would have cost to build it in Japan or Europe.
According to industry sources, the cost of building vessels of the Empress Heaven class in Germany is about $100 million and in Japan about $130 million.
It is the first of four such vessels ordered by Windermere from CSC, and the most expensive ship yet ordered by Hong Kong owner from Taiwan.