CMA CGM Begins LNG Bunkering for Containerships in Rotterdam

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CMA CGM announces the first LNG bunkering of its 15,000TEU vessel, in the port of Rotterdam, says an article published in Container News.

Concurrent operation

LNG supply

Total, the French energy company delivered LNG with the world’s largest LNG bunker vessel, the Gas Agility, which has supplied CMA CGM Tenere with 12,000m3 of LNG.

Cargo operations

Concurrently, the container ship was carrying out cargo handling operations. After the bunkering, the box ship will join the CMA CGM’s Asia Line (FAL 1) connecting Asia with Europe.

The group’s decision

Rodolphe Saadé, chairman and CEO of the CMA CGM Group in Nov 2017, decided to equip the company’s nine 23,000TEU container ships with LNG engines. This was the first attempt in the shipping industry for vessels of this size.

What is the reason?

According to CMA CGM, LNG is currently the industry’s best method for preserving air quality as:

  • it exceeds current regulatory requirements, 
  • cutting emissions of sulphur oxides and fine particles by 99% and of nitrogen oxides by 85%.

“An LNG vessel emits up to 20% less CO2 compared with a vessel powered by fuel oil, while LNG technology is one of the first steps that the CMA CGM Group is taking towards its target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.”

CMA CGM’s LNG-powered vessels

  • CMA CGM Tenere was delivered on 15 September.
  • Its five sister ships are being built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries for Eastern Pacific Shipping to be delivered until the end of 2022 and will join the Group’s flagship, 
  • CMA CGM Jacques Saade, the world’s largest LNG-powered container ship is expected to complete its first bunkering in Rotterdam on 12 November.

The CMA CGM Group expects to have 26 LNG-powered vessels with a total capacity of 380,000TEU by 2022.

Partnership with Total

The Group has formed a major industrial partnership with Total to supply LNG for these ships.

CMA CGM has announced it is therefore driving the creation of a genuine excellence centre for the use of LNG in the shipping industry.

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Source: Container News