CMA CGM remains southbound
The Marseille (France)-headquartered shipping company CMA CGM, a signatory of the SAILS Charter initiated by France’s ministry for the ecological and inclusive transition, used a recent meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron in the Elysée Palace, Paris, to underline its ecological ambition.
Rodolphe Saadé, chairman and chief executive officer of the CMA CGM Group, announced that the CMA CGM fleet will not use the Northern Sea Route and that the Group will give priority to liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power its future ships. The CMA CGM group believes that the use of the Northern Sea Route will represent a significant danger to the unique natural ecosystems of this part of the world.
Furthermore, the group has opted for the use of liquefied natural gas to power its ultra-large vessels that carry up to 23,000 containers. The first ship in this fleet of nine container vessels will be delivered as early as 2020. By 2022, the group expects to have 20 LNG-powered vessels in its fleet. (cd)