News / CMA CGM orders another eight methanol-fuelled containerships

© Darryl Brooks

French mainline operator CMA CGM has ordered more new vessels, putting pen to paper for eight 9,200 teu methanol-propelled containerships at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) in China.

SWS’s immediate parent, China CSSC Holdings, said in a Shanghai Stock Exchange filing yesterday “a European customer” had commissioned the newbuildings for $1bn for delivery in 2027.

Ships of this size are likely to be assigned to mid-haul lanes, such as the Far East-Persian Gulf route. They will be the first methanol-fuelled vessels, and the biggest box ships, to be built by SWS.

It is CMA CGM’s fourth round of methanol-powered newbuilding orders. In August last year, the French company ordered half a dozen 15,000 teu ships from Dalian Shipbuilding, costing $1.05bn, for delivery in late 2025.

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This February, there was an order for a dozen 13,000 teu ships at South Korea’s Hyundai Samho, for $2.05bn, followed by six 15,000 teu vessels to be built at Jiangnan Shipyard, also for $1.05bn.

In March, Alphaliner said the percentage of methanol-fuelled boxships on order were then in double-digit figures, compared with just 1% in the same month last year.

It added: “The figures show the green revolution in container shipping is now firmly under way, with carriers using huge cash deposits to remake their fleets for the energy transition. It underlines the shift from conventional propulsion, just 14% of capacity ordered in the second half of 2022 will be powered by fuel oil.”

CMA CGM now has 85 LNG-fuelled ships and six methanol-powered ships on order and said it had halved its carbon dioxide emissions per teu-km, compared with 2008 levels.