Matson Inc. executives gave up a few coins Thursday to bestow good fortune and hopes for safe travels on a new container ship being built in Philadelphia for the Honolulu company.

The coins were laid under the first cross section of the ship — an engine room section weighing 420 metric tons, or about 925,000 pounds — that was lowered into a dry dock where the ship is being assembled by Philly Shipyard Inc.

The coin ceremony is a tradition in the shipbuilding industry. Two new 850-foot-long Matson ships being built there will be the biggest container ships ever built in the United States, the two firms said. The first ship, named in honor of late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, is to be finished late next year, followed by the second ship, named the Kaimana Hila, in early 2019.