CMA CGM has emerged at the vanguard of liner operators using LNG as the alternative fuel for container vessels.
And Eastern Pacific Shipping’s dual-fuel order for 11 vessels of 15,000 teu each, which emerged this week, could see the French line commit further to the sector.
CMA CGM has committed to 20 ships that will be powered by LNG: nine of 23,000 teu, five of 15,000 teu, and six of 1,400 teu for its intra-Europe regional subsidiary, Containerships.
That commitment was on show at the recent launch of the 23,000-teu CMA CGM Jacques Saade (built 2019), the first of nine giant LNG-powered ships ordered by the French liner giant in 2017 with China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC).
Five have been ordered at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding and four at Jiangnan Shipyard, with delivery from March 2020 to February 2021.
CMA CGM signed the original contract for the four 23,000-teu ships with Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding and Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Heavy Industry.
Smaller vessels
But TradeWinds understands that the contract was novated to Jiangnan Shipyard in December 2018 when Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Heavy Industry was merged with Jiangnan Shipyard.
On top of that, CMA CGM is taking delivery of six LNG-powered, 1,380-teu ships for its intra-Europe regional subsidiary, Containerships.
The third of the ice-strengthened (1A) vessels — the 1,380-teu Containerships Aurora (built 2019) — was delivered from Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard in August. They are designed to operate in Northern Europe.
For its part, Eastern Pacific has 17 LNG dual-fuel, 15,000-teu ships on order at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, with delivery until 2022. Six of these have already been taken by CMA CGM for 15 years at $55,000 per day.
Delivery starts with the Morecambe Bay in June 2020, with the last vessel scheduled for 2022.
CMA CGM has also taken five of Eastern Pacific’s scrubber-fitted ships in the series for 10 years at $40,000 a day each.
The third mega vessel in the scrubber series — the Compton Bay (built 2019) — was delivered last month and operates as
the CMA CGM Panama on the Ocean Alliance Asia North
Europe Service.
Early this year, CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping Leasing — the leasing arm of CSSC — was linked to an order of five 15,000-teu dual-fuel containerships at Jiangnan Shipyard for delivery in 2021.
Those vessels, reported to be priced from around $130m each, are also said to be chartered out long term to CMA CGM.
Other liner operators led by Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) are taking the scrubber route.
This week, Evergreen confirmed an order for 10, 23,000-teu scrubber-fitted boxships — 6 at Samsung Heavy Industries and two each at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding and Jiangnan Shipyard.
Undecided
Some lines have still to show their hand where LNG is concerned.
Hapag-Lloyd has been making enquiries for a series of 23,000-teu vessels, but has not yet decided whether they will be scrubber-fitted or dual-fuel units.
However, the German carrier is testing the LNG sector with the conversion of the 14,993-teu Sajir (built 2014) to a dual-fuel engine at the Huarun Dadong Dockyard near Shanghai.
The Sajir is one of 17 vessels in Hapag-Lloyd’s fleet that were originally designed to be LNG-ready. They comprise 11 ships of 14,993 teu and six ships of 19,870 teu.
