OOCL
Container Tracking
OOCL numbers turn up constantly on Transpacific and Asia–Europe paperwork. Enter a container, bill of lading or booking number for the latest carrier and terminal milestones.
What a OOCL tracking number looks like
The lookup above accepts any of these in the same field. If one returns nothing, try another. Carriers release milestone data against different identifiers at different stages.
Container number
4 letters + 7 digits (11 characters)
OOLU1234567Standard ISO 6346. The first three letters are the owner code, the fourth is always U for a freight container, then six serial digits and one check digit.
Bill of lading number
Alphanumeric, no publicly documented fixed length
OOLU1234567890OOCL does not publish a B/L format specification. Enter the number exactly as it appears on your document rather than trying to match a pattern.
Booking number
Alphanumeric
1234567890Accepted in the same field as container and B/L numbers.
OOCL container prefixes
These owner codes are registered to Orient Overseas Container Line Limited in the BIC ISO 6346 register. Containers moving under a OOCL booking may also carry a leasing company's prefix. A leased box is still your shipment, the prefix just does not identify the carrier.
How to track a OOCL shipment
- 1
Find your container or BL number
It is printed on your bill of lading, your booking confirmation, or on the container door itself. Any of the three works in the search box above.
- 2
OOCL is already selected
Because you are on the OOCL page, the carrier dropdown is filled in for you. If you actually need a different line, change it. The selection is not locked.
- 3
Enter the number and press Track
Type it exactly as printed. Spaces and dashes are fine, but a mistyped letter will return nothing, since the check digit at the end only validates against the correct serial.
- 4
Read the milestone timeline
You will see terminal and vessel events from origin gate-in through to empty return, plus the vessel and voyage your box is actually on.
You can also check OOCL's own portal directly at OOCL cargo tracking . The advantage of tracking here is keeping several carriers on one screen instead of one portal per line.
About OOCL
Orient Overseas Container Line was founded in Hong Kong in 1969, growing out of the shipping interests the Tung family had built from 1947 onwards. It spent five decades as one of the few Hong Kong lines with genuine global reach, and it was an early mover on container-line IT, and its in-house systems were licensed to other carriers at a time when most lines were still running on paper.
In 2018 COSCO Shipping acquired a majority stake. The two lines now sit together inside the Ocean Alliance, but OOCL has kept its own brand, its own booking platform and its own container prefixes. That separation matters when you are tracking: an OOCL number entered on a COSCO portal will not resolve, and the milestone data for the two lines arrives through different feeds even when the box is sitting on the same vessel.
For shippers, OOCL’s centre of gravity is the Transpacific and Asia–Europe trades, with a dense intra-Asia feeder network underneath. If you are importing into Pakistan from East Asia, an OOCL bill of lading usually means a transshipment leg through a hub like Singapore, Port Klang or Colombo before the box reaches Karachi, which is also where most of the schedule risk sits.
OOCL tracking: what to check first
Three things account for most failed OOCL lookups, and none of them mean the shipment is missing.
The number has not been released yet. A booking reference exists from the moment space is confirmed, but carriers generally do not publish movement events against it until the container is physically gated in at the origin terminal. If you booked this week and the lookup is empty, that is usually why.
You are entering a container number with the wrong fourth character. ISO 6346
puts a category identifier in position four: U for a freight container, J
for detachable equipment, Z for trailers and chassis. Effectively every box you
will ever track is a U. OOLU1234567 works; OOLJ1234567 is a different piece
of equipment entirely.
The shipment has closed. Once a container is returned empty to the depot, the carrier eventually retires the record. Historic shipments drop off tracking systems well before they drop out of your accounting.
If you are tracking a transshipment routing, expect a quiet period in the middle. The gap between discharge at the hub and loading onto the second vessel is where OOCL shipments most often appear to stall, and it is also where real delays accumulate, since a missed connection at a hub can add a week without any exception event ever firing.
What each OOCL tracking status means
Ocean carriers share the same terminal and vessel event vocabulary, so these milestones read the same whichever line you are tracking.
Gate in
The container passed through the terminal gate at the origin port and is now in the terminal's custody, waiting to be loaded.
Loaded on vessel
The box was lifted onto the ship. This is the milestone that fixes your shipment to a specific vessel and voyage number.
Vessel departure
The ship has sailed from the origin port. Transit time is measured from here, and it is the point most ETA calculations are anchored to.
Transshipment
The container was discharged at an intermediate hub and will be reloaded onto a second vessel. Most delays originate here rather than at origin.
Discharged
The container came off the ship at the destination port. Free time and demurrage clocks typically start from this event.
Gate out
The container left the terminal on a truck or rail wagon. Once this fires, the terminal's storage charges stop and the haulier's clock starts.
Empty return
The unpacked container was returned to the carrier's nominated depot. This closes the shipment and stops any per-diem detention charges.
Where OOCL shipments usually move
OOCL tracking questions
What does an OOCL container number look like?
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Eleven characters: OOLU or OOCU, then the letter U, then seven digits. OOLU1234567 is the shape you are looking for. Both prefixes are registered to Orient Overseas Container Line in the BIC ISO 6346 owner-code register.
Which container prefixes does OOCL use?
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OOLU and OOCU. You may also see leasing-company prefixes such as TEMU, CAIU or BMOU on containers moving under an OOCL booking. Those boxes are leased, not OOCL-owned, so the prefix alone does not identify the carrier.
Can I track an OOCL shipment with a bill of lading number?
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Yes. The lookup above accepts a container number, a bill of lading number or a booking reference in the same field. If one of them returns nothing, try another. Carriers release milestone data against these identifiers at different points in the shipment lifecycle.
Why is my OOCL container number not found?
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The three usual causes are a transcription error, a number the carrier has not released yet, and a shipment that has already closed. Check the letter before the digits is a U, remove any spaces, and confirm the booking has actually been loaded. Numbers issued at booking often return nothing until the container is gated in at origin.
Is OOCL part of COSCO?
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Yes. OOCL has been majority-owned by COSCO Shipping since 2018 and both lines sit inside the Ocean Alliance, but they continue to operate as separate brands with separate booking systems and separate container prefixes. An OOCL container number will not resolve on a COSCO tracking page and vice versa.
What is OOCL's SCAC code?
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OOLU. SCAC codes are four-letter carrier identifiers used on US customs and EDI filings, and OOCL's happens to be identical to its main container prefix, which is a coincidence rather than a rule. Most carriers have different values for the two.
Does Maalbardaar charge for OOCL tracking?
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No. Tracking is included with a free Maalbardaar account, which also lets you keep several shipments across different carriers on one dashboard instead of checking each carrier's portal separately.
Every carrier on one dashboard.
Stop checking OOCL's portal separately from everyone else's. Track your whole book of shipments in one place.
Not shipping with OOCL?
Track any of these lines from the same dashboard, or use the general tracking page if your carrier is not listed.
Ocean carriers
Air cargo
Maalbardaar is an independent logistics technology platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Orient Overseas Container Line Limited. "OOCL" and all related marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here for identification purposes only. For official information, visit the carrier's own website . Carrier data sources: Container prefixes confirmed individually against the BIC ISO 6346 owner-code register (bic-code.org/bic-codes/oolu, /oocu). HQ and founding year from OOCL corporate material. SCAC cross-corroborated across two published ocean-carrier SCAC lists; NMFTA's register is paywalled, so it is not source-verified.