OOCL entered into a contract with Samsung Heavy Industries Co Ltd, on 2nd December 2002 for the construction of two 8,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) "SX" Class post-Panamax container vessels. They are to be sister ships to the series of six other containerships already ordered from the same shipyard.

To accommodate the US Customs 24-Hours Advance Manifest requirement, and at less than one month's notice, the Inbound Outbound Customs Module and IRIS-2 Customer Shipment Management System were enhanced to facilitate the submission of US customs manifests from an inbound to an outbound process.

By the end of 2002, CargoSmart had more than 7,500 active, registered users and had enhanced its customer product range by adding Customised Sailing Schedule, Customised Reports and Bill of Lading Document Manager.

Topping-out of Phase 2A of Century Metropolis, Xuhui District, Shanghai totaling 30,000 sq m took place.

Phase 2A of Century Metropolis, Xuhui District, Shanghai was awarded "Best Ten Most Valuable Residential Investment Properties Award". Occupation Permits for Blocks 10, 11 and 12 of Phase 1B of this project were issued.

A new loop was added to the Kanto / Kansai Taiwan South China Express service which had already increased many of its port calls to twice weekly.

The upgraded software module, MERIT 2.0, was delivered on time by the end of September to facilitate cross territorial resources planning and system optimisation.

OOIL announced on 16th August 2002 a profit before taxation of US$4.1 million for the half year ended 30th June 2002.

OOCL announced the appointment of Agencia Naviera De Mexico, S.A. De C.V. as its new agent in Mexico.

Two new milestones were achieved by IRIS-2. Two, long demanded applications, the "Combined Invoice" and "Demurrage and Detention Collection" modules were launched, the former to provide customers with invoices covering multiple bills of lading and the latter to provide better visibility of information and to improve the collection of revenue generated from demurrage and detention.

OOCL announced the introduction of the first international liner service to Haikou in Hainan Province, China as a direct link with Hiroshima, Japan.

Inbound Logistics Magazine selected CargoSmart as a Top 100 Logistics Information Technology Provider.

Topping-out took place on Blocks 8 and 9 of Phase 1B of Century Metropolis in the Xuhui District of Shanghai.

The readers of CargoNews Asia magazine have voted the Port of Long Beach the No. 1 seaport in North American for a eighth consecutive year. The award was presented at the magazine's 16th Asian Freight Industry Awards in Singapore. Also honored at the ceremony was Long Beach Container Terminal Inc., as the "Best Container Terminal Operator in North America" for the fifth year in a row.

Direct weekly calls at Grangemouth (Scotland) were added to the Scan Baltic Express service schedule, a further development of OOCL's Intra-Europe Trades which comprise three separate services linking ports between Russia and Portugal.

Internet Work Order, a web based cost and efficiency application of IRIS-2, was officially launched on 28th January and completed in April. It covers editing, enquiry and print and improves communications and workflow among trucking vendors, operations and customer service units replacing traditional fax and telephone confirmations.