CMA CGM Tenere Carries Out Its First LNG Bunkering

CMA CGM is carrying out the first LNG bunkering of the CMA CGM Tenere, the first of six 15,000-TEU, liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered containerships chartered by the CMA CGM Group, the French container line announced Monday.

In Rotterdam, 12,000 cubic meters of LNG will be pumped into the CMA CGM Tenere’s tanks by Total’s Gas Agility, the world’s largest LNG bunker vessel, while the containership carries out cargo handling operations concurrently. After the bunkering, the CMA CGM Tenere will join the Group’s French Asia Line (FAL 1) connecting Asia with Europe.

CMA CGM  has turned to cleaner burning LNG marine fuel as it seeks to minimize its environmental footprint. 

LNG exceeds current regulatory requirements, cutting emissions of sulfur oxides and fine particles by 99% and of nitrogen oxides by 85%. LNG also provides an initial response to the challenge of tackling climate change. An LNG vessel emits up to 20% less CO2 compared with a vessel powered by fuel oil. LNG technology is one of the first steps that the CMA CGM Group is taking toward its target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

In November 2017, Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO of the CMA CGM Group, revealed plans to equip the group’s nine 23,000-TEU containerships with LNG engines, a first in the shipping industry for vessels of this size.

The CMA CGM Tenere, delivered on September 15, and her five sister ships chartered by CMA CGM, are being built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries for Eastern Pacific Shipping. They will be delivered between now and the end of 2022. They are joining the Group’s flagship, the CMA CGM Jacques Saadé, the world’s largest LNG-powered containership, which is expected to complete its first bunkering in Rotterdam on November 12.

All together, by 2022, the group will have 26 LNG-powered vessels with total capacity of 380,000 TEUs.

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