1.
GV: ship Yamoussoukro tied up at quayside PAN TO crowd
0.08

2.
MV: native children dancing.
0.13

3.
MV: crowd applaud PAN TO M. and Mme Houphouet-Boigny walking along quayside
0.21

4.
MVs: natives dancing
0.26

5.
MVs: President and wife review guard of honour and walk to dais as crowd applaud (3 shots)
0.37

6.
MV: Mrs Marie Therese Houphouet-Boigny speaks from dais.
0.40

7.
MV: flag raised to reveal name on stern of ship.
0.42

8.
GVs: coloured tape unravelled and balloons let free from ship (3 shots)
0.54

9.
GV: President and wife walk alongside ship.
1.00

10.
GV: crowd on quayside beside ship
1.04



Initials RH/2000



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In the Ivory, President Felix Houphouet-Boigny performed the christening ceremony of the country's first container ship on Saturday (12 November). The ship has a 30-member crew headed by the country's merchant navy commander Flavien Yao N'Guessan.

SYNOPSIS: The ceremony took place at the quayside at Abidjan, the Ivory Coast capital. There was much traditional dancing and cheering to mark the occasion.

The President was accompanied by his wife, Madame Therese Houpouet-Boigny, when he arrived at the quayside.

The ship has been christened Yamoussoukro, after the Ivorian village where the President was born. The 16,500-ton vessel was built by the Mitsubishi naval yard in Yokohama, Japan. It sailed into Abidjan port only the night before the ceremony.

The Yamoussoukro is the first of eight container ships ordered by the Ivory Coast Shipping Company to modernise its fleet of ships. The other seven will be delivered by the end of 1978.

Emphasising the important role played by shipping, the President said: "The way to our economic freedom is through development of our shipping."