CMA CGM has ordered up to 12 LNG dual-fuel large container ship newbuildings worth almost $2.67bn.
The Rodolphe Saade-controlled liner giant is being named as the shipowner behind a series of neo-panamaxes that HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE) announced on Monday.
The South Korean shipbuilding group said it has signed a contract to build 12 boxships with a shipping company based in Europe.
HD KSOE did not disclose the buyer’s name or the fuel type, but said the contract amounts to KRW 3.683trn ($2.665bn) or $222m each.
Multiple shipbuilding sources said CMA CGM has ordered the newbuildings and the ships are of 15,500 teu. Based on the price, they said the vessels will be LNG dual-fuel.
HD KSOE — the intermediate holding company of HD Hyundai — said HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Samho will each be building six ships scheduled for delivery by June 2028.
News of CMA CGM planning to order neo-panamax newbuildings was first reported by TradeWinds last month. Then, the shipowner was said to have signed letters of intent with Hyundai yards for a dozen 16,000-teu and eight 8,000-teu vessels worth at least $3.5bn
Some brokers said discussions on the 8,000-teu vessels with Hyundai are continuing, but others think CMA CGM may end up chartering the ships from tonnage providers.
The order is CMA CGM’s first this year. In 2023, it was reported to have signed four boxship newbuilding deals worth about $6.5bn in total.
These involved a dozen 13,000-teu vessels at Hyundai Samho; six 15,000-teu boxships at Jiangnan Shipyard; 10 ships of 24,000 teu at Yangzijiang Shipbuilding; and eight 9,200-teu vessels at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding.
All are dual-fuel ships capable of operating on LNG or methanol.
Early this month, CMA CGM was reported to be the charterer of eight 18,000-teu container ship newbuildings that Eastern Pacific Shipping ordered at China’s New Times Shipbuilding.
Eastern Pacific was reported to have ordered the LNG dual-fuel boxships against long-term charters at undisclosed rate.
The New Times deal includes four options.
Eastern Pacific was reported to be paying more than $200m each for vessels, which Jiangsu-based New Times Shipbuilding will construct at a new dry dock it plans to build.
Delivery of the firm vessels is scheduled for 2027 and 2028.
