The steel-cutting ceremony to mark the start of construction of PIL's first 14,000 TEU container ship was held at Jiangnan Shipyard on the morning of 11 July. PIL CEO Lars Kastrup attended the ceremony to commemorate this significant milestone alongside representatives from American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and Jiangnan Shipyard. Both Mr Kastrup and Deputy General Manager of Jiangnan Shipyard Hu Hongyu initiated the steel-cutting ceremony, which was followed by a signing ceremony between PIL, Jiangnan Shipyard, and ABS to officially kick off the construction work. Managing Director of PIL China Klaus Ku and General Manager of PIL Fleet Goh Chung Hun were also present at the event.

Mr Kastrup said at the ceremony, “It has been a number of years since PIL took delivery of new ships. Today, we resume our fleet renewal and expansion programme. This ship will be our first LNG dual-fueled container ship, and it represents our commitment to sustainability and our vision for a greener and cleaner future. This ship, along with her three sister ships, forms part of our strategy to decarbonize our fleet and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

This order of four 14,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships from Jiangnan Shipyard was announced by PIL in March 2022. All four ships will also be equipped with ammonia intermediate ready fuel tank, and they will be progressively delivered from 2H 2024 through to 1H 2025. When delivered, the vessels will become the largest container vessels in PIL’s fleet and the first vessels in the fleet to run on LNG. This is in addition to the four 8,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships which we have ordered from Yangzijiang Shipbuilding in July 2022, and will be delivered progressively in 2025.

The construction of this new ship marks the start of PIL’s fleet renewal and revitalisation. PIL remains committed to driving a safe, reliable and sustainable shipping industry, and we strive to provide our customers around the world with excellent service and eco-friendly logistics solutions!