Speech by PIL CEO Mr Lars Kastrup, at the “Kota Ocean” Naming Ceremony, 6 June 2025

Our esteemed Lady Sponsor, Ms Ho Ching, Chairman of Temasek Trust,

Mr SS Teo, Executive Chairman of PIL,

PIL Board Directors, 

Distinguished Guests, Customers,

PIL Colleagues, 

And Friends, 

Good afternoon and a very warm welcome to the naming ceremony of our newest container vessel.  

A special thanks to our esteemed lady sponsor, Ms Ho Ching, for your support and presence here today. It means a lot to us.  

This is a very special day for PIL – our crew and our shore staff, many of whom are here today, and many are also watching online.  

First of all, because we are proud to have taken delivery of yet another vessel to support our growth and decarbonisation strategies. 

But also, because a name-giving is something very special to shipowners and seafarers.  

It’s a maritime tradition in many cultures dating back millenia.  

Anecdotes from the Babylonians and ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans are telling how they were calling on their Gods to protect the seamen.  

Favours were evoked from the monarchs of the seas like Poseidon and Neptune. 

In some cultures, still today, the name-giving is a religious act, for instance be called the Christening of the ship with corresponding ceremonials. 

Now I assure you that we are not going to formally call on mythologies today. But we respect the tradition, which even today, is of high symbolic importance to shipowners and particularly to our seafarers.  

So while this tradition is important, we are also fortunate to be able to count on highly modern technologies to ensure the safety of our crew, the cargo, and our vessels.  

The Red Lady you can see in front of you is an example of such technologies, allowing us to ensure a safer operation of the ship, better fuel efficiencies, greener solutions, as well as better welfare for our seafarers on board.  

Last year, during the refresh of our Purpose and Values, and rebranding, we decided that the colour red should also be painted on our ships. The result is in front of you.  

The red colour also represents the passion we all at PIL have – be that on shore or at sea – and the feel about working with shipping and the ocean, as well as serving our customers. And we are very happy and proud to share that passion with all of you here today.  

So thank you once again for being with us on this important day, and please enjoy the celebration.