German-based shipping line Hamburg Sud acknowledged the importance of its Australian trades by naming its newest vessel in Brisbane yesterday.
At the official naming ceremony on the Brisbane River, which was attended by members of the shipping line’s most senior management team, matriarch of the Queensland-based meat exporter Teys Brothers, Mrs Carol Teys, was honoured by being named the sponsor of the vessel. In the seafaring tradition, the sponsor gives the vessel soul, whereupon the ship becomes a living entity.
"It’s a great honour and pleasure for me to be the sponsor of this new vessel and I name her ‘Cap Pasley’. May God bless and protect her and all who sail on her", she said in her naming speech.
The Cap (or Cape) Pasley, named after the cape on the western end of the Great Australian Bight, has been specified with the Australian trade in mind, with 1,819 TEU slots and over 400 reefer plugs, giving her a theoretical capacity to carry over 800 TEU reefer cargo, or nearly half her capacity.
With a service speed of around 20 knots, the Cap Pasley will be deployed on th Australia/New Zealand – Asia trade, joining her sister ship the Cap Palliser, which was officially named in Tauranga earlier in the week.
Photo (L-R): Dr August Oetker, general partner of Dr August Oetker KG and chairman of the advisory board of the Hamburg Süd Group; Klaus-Peter Offen, president and owner of Reederei Klaus-Peter Offen, the owner of the vessel; Carol Teys, sponsor of the Cap Pasley; Allan Teys, one of the leading Australian meat exporters; Dr Klaus Meves, chairman of the executive board of Hamburg Süd.