• 01 Apr 2019

The French shipping company CMA CGM has ordered new five LNG-powered containerships to a Chinese shipyard of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).

The agreement, signed in France by Rodolphe Saadé, President and CEO of CMA CGM, and Lei Fanpei, President of CSSC Group, on the occasion of the meeting between the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, and the French President Emmanuel Macron, counts a total of ten new containerships, each with a capacity of 15,000 TEUs, including five naval units with liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion and the former remaining ships powered by conventional fuel and equipped with Scrubber System to reduce polluting emissions.

According to industry sources, the five LNG-propelled ships will be built by the CSSC shipyard in Jiangnan (Shanghai), for a price of $ 130 million per ship, while the other five ships will be built in another CSSC shipyard at a price of $ 110 million per ship.

The new containerships, 366 metres long, will be delivered starting in 2021 and will be used on the routes that connect Asia with the Mediterranean, to replace as many units in the CMA CGM fleet that will serve elsewhere.

Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman of the CMA CGM Group, commented:

"Through this strategic partnership with the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, we once again opt for LNG propulsion, strengthening our commitment to develop more efficient and environmentally friendly ships. In this way we reaffirm our role as a leader in the energy transition of the maritime industry "

The CMA CGM group - one of the world leaders in maritime commercial transport based in Marseille - after announcing the decision to equip its large ships with engines that use liquefied natural gas at the opening of the 23rd Conference of the Parties in Bonn (COP23), in September 2017 had already ordered nine large containerships of 22,000 TEUs (400 meters in length) to a CSSC Group, that will be delivered starting from 2020 in the following years.

Considering the additional four LNG-powered 1,400 TEU container ships ordered by the Finnish subsidiary Containerships AS at the Wenchong shipyard in Guangzhou controlled by CSSC (see the news of GNL Conference here: http://www.conferenzagnl.com/prima-portacontainer-gnl-cma-cgm/?lang=en) the CMA CGM Group will be able to count on 18 naval units powered by LNG within a few years.

Source: PortsEurope