The Orion class is a series of 8 container ships built for Zodiac Maritime. The first 4 ships are operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and the remaining ships are operated by Ocean Network Express (ONE). The ships were built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea. The ships have a maximum theoretical capacity of 14,952 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
List of ships ShipYard numberIMO numberDeliveryStatusrefMediterranean Shipping CompanyMSC Orion3029985715722 Jan 2020In serviceMSC Aries303098571699 Mar 2020In serviceMSC Virgo303198571718 Jun 2020In serviceMSC Auriga3032985718315 Jul 2020In serviceOcean Network ExpressZenith Lumos3033986421521 Sep 2020In serviceZephyr Lumos303498642276 Jan 2021In serviceZeus Lumos3035986423910 Mar 2021In serviceZeal Lumos3036986424130 Jul 2021In service
Incidents
On April 13, 2024, during the Red Sea crisis, the IRGC Navy seized Portuguese-registered and Madeira-flagged MSC Aries. The ship was off the UAE coast and was taken to Iran, which claimed that it had violated maritime laws.
On April 26, MSC Orion, sister ship to MSC Aries, was struck by a drone, 300 to 400 nautical miles southeast of the Horn of Africa, extending Houthi Red Sea attacks to the Indian Ocean.
References