CMA CGM orders eight methanol-fuelled containerships at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding
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.
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.
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.
