CMA CGM plans to be carbon neutral by 2050, according to chairman and chief executive Rodolphe Saade.

The French liner company also intends to use 10% alternative fuels by 2023, he told the UN Global Compact online conference on 2 June.

Saade said his company is on track to reduce by 40% its CO2 emissions per tonne transported per km by 2030, the target set by the IMO.

"In 2019, we reduced our total CO2 emissions by 6%," he said.

"These significant reductions were made possible thanks to our mobilisation, the technological innovations implemented and an improved management of vessels operations."

Echoes of Maersk

Rodolphe Saade is chairman and chief executive of CMA CGM. Photo: CMA CGM

The move brings CMA CGM into line with rival Maersk, which in 2018 unveiled its own plans to be carbon neutral by middle of the century.

The Danish line expects to have carbon-neutral vessels commercially viable by 2030 to realise the target.

But the two liner operators are taking different routes, with CMA CGM committing to the use of LNG for its larger ships.

CMA CGM expects these will help it to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 20%.

"With a 48% reduction in CO2 emissions per container per km since 2008, we have exceeded 10 years ahead of schedule the IMO's target of a 40% reduction by 2030," Saade said.

"Our 2050 objective is to be carbon neutral."

CMA CGM is preparing to take delivery in the coming months of the 23,000-teu Jacques Saade — the first in a series of nine LNG-fuelled newbuildings.

The ships were ordered by the French liner giant at China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC) in 2017.

But CMA CGM has also been testing biofuels and other potential ship fuels including hydrogen.