Overseas Containers Ltd (OCL)

Overseas Containers Limited (OCL) was a joint venture of four British shipping companies that were involved in conventional liner trades, comprising of P&O, Ocean Steamship, British & Commonwealth and Furness Withy.

It was incorporated on 27 August 1965, with each partners' shareholding to vary based on their holdings in the trades that were containerised and transferred to OCL. Unlike its rival ACT, each partner automatically acquired an interest in every trade that OCL entered.

Evolution of OCL Shareholdings (1965-1986)                      P&O          Ocean        B&C       Furness Withy
1) At start of Europe-Australia service (Mar 1969)             37.0%        19.5%        15.2%        28.3%
2) After entry in FE-Europe & Aust-Japan (Sep 1972)         30.0%        49.0%        7.6%          13.4%
3) After entry in SAECS & ANZL (Nov 1977)                       30.7%        33.9%        19.4%        16.0%
4) After entry in Eur-Jeddah (Nov 1979)                            30.9%        34.1%        19.2%        15.8%
5) After withdrawal of Furness Withy (Nov 1980)               36.7%        40.5%        22.8%
6) After entry in Eur-Gulf & East Africa (Nov 1981)            47.4%        32.8%        19.8%
7) After P&O buy out of remaining partners (May 1986)    100.0%