French liner giant CMA CGM is reviewing its choice of fuelling for a series of recently contracted midsize container ship newbuildings in China.
Sources familiar with the vessels said talks had been taking place on switching eight methanol dual-fuelled, 9,200-teu boxships to LNG dual-fuelling.
Contracts on the ships were inked at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding in September, after the yard and owner signed a provisional deal in August.
At the time, the vessels were scheduled for delivery between late 2026 and 2027 and were reported to be priced between $125m and $127m each.
This week, those watching the orders said a switch to LNG dual-fuelling would likely add about $10m to the cost of each vessel.
Some following the business said the fuel switch had been agreed but others said talks were still in progress and the outcome could go either way.
Asked about the fuelling switch discussions, a spokeswoman for CMA CGM told TradeWinds: “We do not comment on market rumours.”
There is fierce debate in the maritime industry about the merits of LNG and methanol as fuels.
LNG offers CO2 reductions and eradicates NOx and SOx while further emissions reductions can be made through drop-in volumes of bio-LNG, with a pathway to low or carbon-free synthetic LNG for the future.
Methanol is seen as an easier-to-handle non-cryogenic option to LNG but in its fossil form does not offer the same CO2 reductions as LNG. But maritime users want to buy carbon-neutral green methanol that is currently only available in very small quantities and as a consequence prices are high.
CMA CGM has been a pioneer in LNG-fuelling, taking the plunge in 2017 with a series of ultra large container ship newbuildings.
First move on methanol
The French company, which has about 100 vessels on order, has signed four boxship newbuilding deals in 2023 worth about $6.5bn in total, confirming orders for 13,000-teu, 15,000-teu and 24,000-teu vessels at yards in China and South Korea.
The most recent — the eight ships at SWS — marked the company’s first move into methanol.
Confirmation of the newbuildings followed an announcement that CMA CGM was teaming up on decarbonisation with Danish boxship behemoth AP Moller-Maersk, which has pioneered a push for the use of methanol as a marine fuel.
The partners said the cooperation aims to develop alternative greener fuels for container vessel propulsion and that teaming up would enable them to move faster.
The two companies said they plan to work on setting the framework for the mass production of green methane and green methanol and look at other alternative fuels, such as ammonia, and innovation technology for their ships.
