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Following is the full text of the speech by the acting Chief Executive, Mrs Anson Chan, at the naming ceremony of the new container ship "P&O Nedlloyd Kowloon" at MTL Container Terminal Berth 5, Hong Kong, today (Tuesday):
Mr Harris, ladies and gentlemen,
It is my great pleasure to be the sponsor on the occasion of the naming ceremony of "P&O Nedlloyd Kowloon".
The English poet, Lord Byron, once said that man's control stopped with the shore. Two hundred years ago that might be true. Nowadays, we can more comfortably and quickly sweep over the once unvanquishable ocean, bringing in all the goods, people and ideas from foreign lands. Indeed, this was how Hong Kong began its story of success - a story that has continued to this date. We are fortunately endowed with an excellent port - perhaps our only natural resource. But to turn this story into reality, we need good ships.
We are therefore proud and glad to see that P&O Nedlloyd has chosen our city to name this marvellous new ship, P&O Nedlloyd Kowloon. The ship is a living testimony to the strength of her owner, an amalgamation of two of the finest shipping names in the world. With a capacity to carry 6,600 TEUs of containers, she is, along with her three sister ships, amongst the largest container vessels in the world.
The name P&O Nedlloyd Kowloon well symbolises the long business and emotional tie between P&O Nedlloyd and Hong Kong. P&O was one of the partners in developing Hong Kong's first container terminal, MTL, where we are gathering this evening, back in the early seventies. Much has changed since then. We have seen international trade shifting to the east and the Hong Kong container port flourishing to become one of the world's largest in terms of annual container handling capacity.
What has not changed is the fact that Hong Kong continues to prosper and live on the deep and dark blue ocean and we are ever more committed to maintaining our port as one of the finest and most efficient and competitive ports in the world.
Cost saving is a worldwide business concern, more so since the onset of the Asian financial turmoil. We understand the need and pressure faced by shipping companies and in response to that, we have reduced the shipping register fees and simplified the ship surveying procedures. We will also help them to lower their overseas tax liability. We have already entered into double taxation arrangement with the United States and the Mainland. We are also in the process of negotiating reciprocal freight tax exemption arrangement with many of our major trading partners.
Coupled with these new initiatives is a wide range of unique excellent supporting services that we
offer for doing shipping business in Hong Kong, including telecommunications, banking and finance, legal and insurance, a clean and efficient public sector and the rule of law. These, we are confident, give us a great non-price competitive edge over the others.
We will continue to do all we can to attract more shipping companies to Hong Kong, for we need ships of the size and quality of "P&O Nedlloyd Kowloon" to meet the growing demands of international trade, and to continue the long successful story of this city.
I congratulate P&O Nedlloyd for launching this new fleet of container vessels and for naming one of its new ships in Hong Kong. I am confident that this will be the first of many calls by "P&O Nedlloyd Kowloon" to the port of Hong Kong. I am confident too, that she will make many safe and prosperous voyages around the world in the capable hands of her master and crew. May God bless all who sail in her.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
End/Tuesday, November 17, 1998
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