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French Government News

30 Jan 2024

bound4blue to Install Its eSAIL on Cargo Vessel Newbuild

(Image: Cotenaval)

bound4blue reports it has been selected to install a 22-meter-high eSAIL on board the newbuild multipurpose cargo vessel Na Pae E Hiro, helping shipowner SNA TUHA’A PAE (SNA) reduce energy consumption by 10%. Launching in 2026, the trailblazing ship will mix green technology with an ambition to accelerate development of the remote Austral Islands, carrying both vital supplies and up to 200 tourists on its voyages from Tahiti to the South Pacific archipelago.The eSAIL, designed for both retrofits and newbuilds, is a ‘suction sail’.

06 Nov 2023

DFDS Commits to Battery-electric Vessels on the English Channel

© julien leiv / Adobe Stock

Danish shipping company DFDS announced it has committed to investing in battery-powered vessels to help decarbonize the maritime traffic across the English Channel.Following a meet between French Minister for Foreign Trade, Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad, Olivier Becht and CEO of DFDS, Torben Carlsen, in October, DFDS said it will invest in the innovation and technology necessary to and deploy a fleet of battery-powered vessels in the English Channel by 2030.“We have…

11 May 2023

ADNOC L&S, SeaOwl Designing Unmanned Supply Vessels for Offshore Operations

The agreement was signed by Captain Abdulkareem Al Masabi, CEO of ADNOC L&S and Xavier Génin, CEO of SeaOwl at the UAE Climate Tech Forum organized by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology. ©ADNOC

ADNOC L&S, the shipping and maritime logistics arm of the Abu Dhabi-based oil firm ADNOC, has signed an agreement with SeaOwl for the design of unmanned remotely operated vessels capable of transporting vehicles, equipment, and supplies to and from offshore sites.ADNOC L&S said these vessels would reduce carbon emissions by up to 30% as the vessel will be lighter and smaller, as facilities for a crew are not required. "In addition, the smart automation systems will optimize routing and propulsion…

17 Mar 2023

LNG Activities Resume at Dunkirk Terminal

Disruption at the Dunkirk liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal operated by Fluxys ended on Friday morning, a company spokesperson said, with shipping data showing a tanker carrying LNG from Russia has docked at the site.Operations at the terminal have been disrupted since March 6 by strike action against the French government's planned pension changes, which President Emmanuel Macron decided to push through without a vote Thursday, causing violent unrest overnight.Refinitiv data showed the ship Fedor Litke, carrying 160,000 billion cubic metres (bcm) of LNG from Yamal, Russia, had arrived at the terminal, the first since the strike action began."We have resumed our activities…

08 Mar 2023

French Strike Disrupts Rhine River Traffic

© philipbird123 / Adobe Stock

Rhine river traffic came to a standstill in some places on Wednesday due to strikes against French government plans to raise the pension age, with sections of the river in France, Germany and Switzerland affected, a CGT union representative and Germany's Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSA) said.Around 1.28 million people in France had participated in a sixth day of protests on Tuesday against a draft law that would see the pension age delayed by two years to 64.A blockade at Strasbourg lock on the Rhine was cleared by police and an evacuation of the blockades at the Marckolsheim lock…

23 Dec 2022

Polar POD Project Enters Shipyard Construction Phase in France

Illustration Polar POD © N. Gagnon

Ifremer, Jean-Louis Etienne and the entire Polar POD team announced its construction by the Piriou shipyards in association with 3C Metal, under the direction of the project owner, Ifremer. The scientific program of this international oceanographic "station" is being overseen by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS), in partnership with the French National Centre for Space Studies (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales…

28 Nov 2022

CMA CGM Sees Profits Ebbing as Shipping Boom Fades

© petert2 / Adobe Stock

CMA CGM said it expects a pullback in shipping markets to accelerate in the fourth quarter due to high energy prices and flagging consumer spending, and this will reduce its profitability following an earnings surge in the past year.French-based CMA CGM, one of the world's largest container lines, reported on Friday a net profit of $7.0 billion for the third quarter, up from $5.6 billion in the year-earlier period.However, the net profit was down from $7.6 billion in the previous quarter…

04 Oct 2022

Macron's Chief of Staff Indicted Over Link to Shipping Giant MSC

© Studio Porto Sabbia / Adobe Stock

French President Emmanuel Macron's chief of staff has been indicted by the national financial crimes prosecutor over a conflict of interest relating to his alleged links with Swiss-Italian shipping company MSC, the prosecutor's office said.Alexis Kohler, Macron's closest and most influential adviser, sits at the top of the Elysee Palace's administrative pyramid, and news of his indictment - a legal step that puts him under formal investigation in France - is a blow.The prosecutor's office "confirms Alexis Kohler…

05 Sep 2022

CMA CGM Launches $1.5 Billion Energy Fund

© Taljat / Adobe Stock

French transport giant CMA CGM is creating a five-year investment fund of 1.5 billion euros ($1.5 billion) aimed at accelerating its energy transition in shipping and logistics, it said on Sunday.The fund will support industrial production of new fuels and low-emission transport solutions across the group's businesses, including maritime, overland and air freight shipping and port and logistics services, it said in a statement.Among other initiatives mentioned on Sunday, the group will develop a biomethane production and liquefaction project to produce up to 100…

02 Sep 2022

CMA CGM Expects Shipping Slowdown After Another Strong Quarter

© Björn Wylezich / Adobe Stock

Weakening consumer spending is curbing shipping demand and freight rates, transport giant CMA CGM said on Friday as it reported another jump in quarterly profits.French-based CMA CGM, one of the world's largest container lines, reported a net profit of $7.6 billion for the second quarter, up from $3.5 billion in the year-earlier period and also surpassing $7.2 billion in the first quarter.Higher container revenues helped offset rising operating costs in the past quarter, including a near 75% year-on-year jump in ship fueling costs…

16 Aug 2022

Battery-Electric Surge: ESS Scales Up in Maritime

Battery friendly: the DC set-up aboard an ESS-equipped VARD vessel. Image courtesy Vard

Ask the right government department in any G7 state and you’ll find funding to put battery power for your vessel. Beyond funds, new battery makers and system integrators are ironing out safety issues, and a growing number of giga-sized cell factories offer hope that costs will fall for marine energy storage, as ESS choice grows. Efforts are also underway to recycle rare earth elements and to augment or greenify staggeringly high plant electricity inputs. Apart from funding, the drivers of change include constraints on shipping in Emissions Free Areas like the fjords of Norway…

12 Jul 2022

Danfoss to Power France's New Hybrid-electric Buoy-laying Vessel

(Image: Danfoss)

Danfoss Power Solutions’ Editron division will power a new hybrid-electric buoy-laying vessel for the Armement des Phares et Balises, the French government’s department responsible for signaling dangers and marking shipping routes along the French coast. The vessel will be used to maintain and replace navigational buoys around the island of Corsica.In 2019, the French Inter-Ministerial Committee for the Sea committed to a series of measures aiming to decarbonize its marine industry. One of those measures is the decarbonization of vessel propulsion and onboard energy.

02 Mar 2022

EU Nations Considering Banning Russian Ships from Ports

(File photo: Sovcomflot)

European Union countries are considering a ban on Russian ships entering the bloc's ports, aiming to tighten sea restrictions after a halt on air traffic, European officials say, a step that would further hamper Russia's commercial shipments.Britain already decided on Monday to deny entry to British ports to all ships that are Russian owned, operated, controlled, chartered, registered or flagged. Canada followed on Tuesday, saying it would shut its ports to Russian-owned ships later this week, a day after it banned Russian crude oil imports.

16 Nov 2021

Ocean Winds, Principle Power in French Floating Wind Team-up

WindFloat Atlantic (Viana do Castelo, Portugal) - Credit: Ocean Winds

Ocean Winds, a partnership between ENGIE and EDP Renewables, and Principle Power, a designer of floating wind turbine foundations, will cooperate to design the floating platforms for France’s first commercial-scale floating wind tender.In September this year, the French Government selected Ocean Winds to participate in the tender process.The duo has successfully delivered the 25 MW WindFloat Atlantic floating wind farm project currently operating in Portugal and the companies…

21 Sep 2021

Australian Documents Showed French Submarine Project was at Risk for Years

(File photo: Royal Australian Navy)

France should not have been surprised that Australia cancelled a submarine contract, as major concerns about delays, cost overruns and suitability had been aired officially and publicly for years, Australian politicians said.Paris has recalled its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington, saying it was blindsided by Canberra's decision to build nuclear-powered submarines with the United States and Britain rather than stick with its contract for French diesel submarines.Yet as early as September 2018, an independent oversight board led by a former U.S.

12 Apr 2021

French Container Shipping Firm Offers to Rebuild Beirut's Port Within Three Years

Credit: Ali
/AdobeStock

French container shipping group CMA CGM is pursuing a plan to rebuild Beirut's port within three years, despite political deadlock in Lebanon that has prevented decisions on the port since a blast last August, a company executive said.A chemical explosion at the port killed 200 people and destroyed entire neighborhoods, deepening Lebanon's worst political and economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.CMA CGM's plan, first outlined to Lebanese authorities in September, envisages the reconstruction of damaged docks and warehouses…

07 Dec 2020

Fincantieri Sees Chantiers Deal Decided by Year End

(Photo: Chantiers de l’Atlantique)

Italy’s plan to create a European shipbuilding champion through Fincantieri’s bid for France’s Chantiers de l’Atlantique will be decided by the end of December, its chairman said on Monday, amid signs the deal is in trouble.Italy hopes the tie-up will help state-controlled Fincantieri, Europe’s biggest shipyard, better compete with rivals from Asia and elsewhere.Fincantieri, whose clients include Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line, P&O Cruises, MSC and Disney Cruise Line…

15 Sep 2020

France Gives €30 Million to Aid Ferry Companies

© markuk97 / Adobe Stock

The French government will reimburse 30 million euros ($35.5 million) in payroll costs to French ferry companies hit by the coronavirus crisis and Brexit, Prime Minister Jean Castex told parliament.Shipping firms have suffered from lower traffic to and from Britain due to quarantine measures and uncertainty around Britain's exit from the European union."We have decided to reimburse all of Brittany Ferries' payroll costs for the 2021 financial year.

06 Aug 2020

Container Losses in the Rolling Seas

The APL England lost at least 50 containers in heavy seas off the coast of Australia in May 2020. (Photo: Australian Maritime Safety Authority)

Cargoes have come off ships at sea it seems like forever. Some years ago a ship suffered a casualty transiting the English Channel in a storm. Much of its cargo of lumber and other floating items washed ashore on the southwest English coast. Before the authorities could arrive, enterprising local residents gathered it up.Nowadays, the majority of non-bulk cargo is carried in containers. Container ships have gotten larger and are capable of carrying thousands and thousands of containers. The ships have greater length, greater breadth, and greater draft. They also have greater air draft.

13 May 2020

CMA CGM Takes $1.1 Bln Loan

© Marek Slusarczyk / Adobe Stock

Shipping group CMA CGM has obtained a 1.05 billion euro ($1.1 billion) loan to be 70% guaranteed by the French government as it seeks to bolster its cash position during the coronavirus pandemic, which has hammered international trade.The loan, secured from a consortium of banks comprising BNP Paribas, HSBC and Société Générale, has an initial one-year maturity and an extension option of up to five years, Marseille-based CMA CGM said in a statement on Wednesday.France is offering guarantees to support billions of euros in loans for French companies to help them survive the economic fallout fro

03 Nov 2019

Steel Cut for 1st LNG-fueled Ship in France

MSC Cruises, a global cruise line registered in Switzerland and based in Geneva, has held a steel-cutting ceremony for its first new-generation World-Class ship at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France.The first of five liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered cruise ships on order, MSC Europa is the first LNG ship to be built in France.On the occasion of the cutting of the first steel ceremony held in Saint-Nazaire, MSC and Chantiers de l’Atlantique unveiled a groundbreaking R&D project named PACBOAT.The project focuses on the integration of a new fuel cell technology demonstrator onboard the first of four MSC Cruises’ World Class of vessels, due for delivery in 2022.

10 Jul 2019

Brittany Ferries Names Two New Ships

French shipping company  Brittany Ferries has named new ships as Kerry and Santoña and promised significant CO2 savings from fleet renewal plans.Kerry will be the name for the one-year charter vessel arriving in November 2019. As previously announced, this ship will cover the Cork to Santander route from November 2019 to November 2020.Santoña (pronounced Santonia in English) has been chosen for the company’s third E-Flexer class ship. To be chartered from Stena, Santoña is part of the company’s €550 million fleet renewal program, with a clear focus on sustainable development.Santoña will arrive in 2023 and like sister ship Salamanca, she will be powered by environmentally-friendly Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).Santoña will be the third LNG powered vessel to join the Brittany Ferries fleet.

14 Jun 2019

French, Italian Shipbuilders Forge Naval Alliance

(Photo: Fincantieri)

France and Italy forged a military shipbuilding alliance on Friday, as state-controlled Naval Group and Fincantieri signed off on a 50-50 joint venture that will bid for Franco-Italian warship projects and sell to the world market.The alliance reflects the two countries' desire to fend off competition in naval shipbuilding from the likes of China, the United States and Russia.It is targeting orders worth up to 5 billion euros ($5.63 billion) over the next decade. Naval Group said the joint venture aims to build 10-15 warships in that period…