Speech by PIL Executive Chairman Mr S.S. Teo, at the “Kota Ocean” Naming Ceremony, 6 June 2025
Our Lady Sponsor, Ms Ho Ching, Chairman of Temasek Trust
PIL Board of Directors,
Our Customers, Partners and Friends,
Distinguished Guests,
PIL Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good Afternoon
A very warm welcome and thank you for taking the time to join us.
My sincere thanks to Ms Ho Ching, the Lady Sponsor of our new vessel, which you see in front of you.
This naming ceremony today, is very special to PIL. This is our first new vessel naming in Singapore.
Traditionally, we have always named our vessels at the shipyards where they are built.
We have arranged to have this naming in Singapore, to mark our 60 years of nation-building or we all call it “SG60”.
You will notice our PIL containers outside this event hall have a special SG60 design.
Every year, we sponsor containers for Singapore National Day Parade.
This year, over 100 of our containers are being deployed at the Padang, Esplanade, War Memorial Park, Empress Lawn and F1 Village.
To celebrate SG60, these containers are dressed up with the winning design from our PIL competition, involving our colleagues and crew globally.
This winning design was the fantastic work of my Singapore colleague, Ms May Wee, who has been with PIL for over 34 years. (May, where are you?)
When the NDP organisers return these SG60 containers to us after August, we will ship these SG60 containers to destinations globally to showcase them on our ships.
PIL has a strong commitment in Building Our Singapore Together.
Since PIL was founded in 1967, 2 years after Singapore’s Independence, we have leveraged on Singapore’s strategic location, stable and pro-business environment to grow and expand.
We have also benefitted from Singapore’s success as an International Maritime Centre.
As we grew over the years, we have remained true to our Singapore roots, doing our best to grow Singapore’s connectivity with the rest of the world.
Out of the total 64 services in our network, 38 of these call Singapore.
We have just announced a new weekly service connecting China, Singapore and Indonesia, starting on 17 June.
We are pleased to name the 8,200 TEU LNG Dual Fuel vessel today, which will operate on a key service route, from China, Singapore to West Africa, strengthening trade links between Asia and Africa.
Recently, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong urged Singapore businesses to diversify by exploring African and Latin America markets.
PIL is well positioned to support our Singapore companies in this push, having served Africa since we were founded in 1967, 58 years ago.
Today, PIL is the only Asian shipping line with a large network of majority owned agencies in Africa.
PIL’s participation in the Latin American market dates back to 2005.
We are expanding there with the opening of our own offices. We have 9 offices now, 5 of which are wholly owned, and are continually expanding.
To support PIL grow and global network expansion, we have contracted 18 new buildings:
- 4 of 14,000 TEUs from Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard;
- 4 of 8,2000 TEUs from Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipyard;
- 5 of 13,000 TEUs and 5 of 9,000 TEUs from Shanghai Hudong Shipyard;
- 4 of the 14,000 and 1st of the 8,200 TEUs have been delivered.
Today, we will be naming 2nd of the 8,200 TEUs, Kota Ocean.
When my late father, Mr. YC Chang (张允中) founded PIL in 1967, Malay was Singapore’s National language, he decided to name all our vessels with a prefix “Kota”, which is the Malay word for “city”.
This is in reference to Singapore being a City state and a Garden City.
The word “Ocean” in the vessel’s name reflects its role in navigating the vast ocean, connecting economies and ensuring the seamless flow of trade.
The excellent construction and good finishing of our 8,200 TEU ‘O’ Class series, is due to the hard work and close collaboration of our dedicated site team and Yangzijiang shipyard in Jiangyin.
I would like to thank BNP Paribas for financing Kota Ocean.
Today, we also have some of our customers and partners here. Thank you all for your support.
I would like to recognise our ship’s captain and crew, as well as to all our seafarers. Thank you for your vigilance, dedication and hard work in sailing and maintaining our vessels.
Special thanks to PSA for helping us organise this ceremony and celebrate in Keppel Terminal.
As we look forward to the continued success and growth of PIL, we would like to thank all our customers, vendors, business associates, friends and colleagues for your support.
I would also like to thank the loading ports, our Operations, Fleet, Trade, Equipment team in Head Office and China.
All the support staff in HQ working, to make this event a success. A live feed of the event is being broadcasted to our staff globally.
As this is the first time we are organising a naming ceremony in Singapore, please bear with us for any inconvenience.
Last but not least, may I also wish all Muslim friends and colleagues, Selamat Hari Raya Haji tomorrow.
Have an enjoyable afternoon.
Thank you.
