CMA CGM Group orders 7 new biogas-powered ships

Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CMA CGM Group announced the rollout of seven new container ships powered by biogas to enhance and modernise services to the French West Indies.

Delivered gradually as of 2024, the seven new container ships – four 7,300 TEU vessels and three 7,900 TEU vessels each with 1,385 reefer plugs – will serve Guadeloupe and Martinique "significantly increasing services to the two islands while also maintaining the same service standards, reliability and regularity," says an official statement.

They will replace smaller ships dedicated to routes between the French West Indies, France and Europe, the release added.

To cope with these larger capacity vessels, the CMA CGM Group will help to modernise and increase the capacity of the biggest shipping ports in Guadeloupe and Martinique as well as making wharfs larger. "Fort de France and Pointe à Pitre, central hubs of the Caribbean and South America, will be the starting point for transshipments to Guyana, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy and northeast Brazil."

The CMA CGM Group is committed to the energy transition and has set itself the target of becoming net zero carbon by 2050. "Biogas produced from biomass reduces CO2 emissions by 67 percent compared with conventional fuel and cuts sulfur oxide emissions by 99 percent, fine particle emissions by 91 percent and nitrogen oxide emissions by 92 percent. The dual fuel gas engine technology developed by CMA CGM since 2017 is able to use biogas as well as synthetic methane. CMA CGM already has 31 e-methane ready container ships in its fleet fitted with dual-fuel engines. It will have 77 of these vessels by 2026."