First LNG bunkering project in West Med is launched for containerships by TotalEnergies at Marseille Fos
French major TotalEnergies has launched its first LNG bunkering operation for containerships at the West Mediterranean Port of Marseille Fos with an LNG-powered 15,000 twenty-foot units (TEU) containership re-fuelled.
The “CMA CGM Bali” operates on the Asia-to-South Europe route for Marseille-based shipping line CMA CGM.
“The containership was refuelled by the bunkering vessel ‘Gas Vitality’, which has 6,000 cubic metres of capacity operated a ship-to-ship transfer alongside the Eurofos container terminal, while the containership carried out cargo operations simultaneously,” explained TotalEnergies.
The “Gas Vitality” is the second LNG bunker vessel chartered by TotalEnergies from the owner, Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines.
“This entire operation underlines a solid collaborative teamwork across the French maritime industry including the involvement of local port authorities to enable the vessels’ safe operatorship, and the commitments of all the parties to support the growing role of LNG,” said Jérôme Leprince-Ringuet, Vice-President at ToatlEnergies Marine Fuels.
“TotalEnergies is delighted to successfully complete Marseille’s first LNG bunkering operation of a containership,” added Leprince-Ringuet.
“Her deployment underscores the company’s commitment to support the French port’s ambition to be an LNG bunkering hub for the
Mediterranean region,” stated the executive.
TotalEnergies has actively invested in LNG infrastructure, critical to support its shipping customers’ uptake of LNG as a marine fuel.
The company has been operating an even larger bunkering vessel, the 18,600 cubic metres capacity “Gas Agility” since November 2020 at the Dutch Port of Rotterdam.
It was at Rotterdam that the “Gas Agility” completed the first LNG bunkering operation of the “CMA CGM Jacques Saade”, the largest dual-fuel LNG-powered containership in the world.
“TotalEnergies will also commence operations of a third LNG bunker vessel to serve Singapore,” it noted.
“The company was awarded an LNG bunker supplier licence for a five-year term starting on January 1st, 2022,” it added.
In the global LNG market TotalEnergies is the world's second-largest publicly traded player and will have a global portfolio of nearly 50 million tonnes per annum from after 2025.
The Paris-based company has stakes in 10 LNG liquefaction and export plants worldwide in Angola, Australia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the US, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Russia and Qatar.
TotalEnergies Marine Fuels forecasts expansion of LNG bunkering market to 10 MTPA within next four years
TotalEnergies Marine Fuels, the French major’s bunkering unit, has forecast that the liquefied natural gas market would expand over the next four years, reaching 10 million tonnes per annum of bunker volumes by 2025.
The TotalEnergies bunkering subsidiary came to the conclusion in a 40-page report on the maritime fuel market that offers shippping operators and owners advice on how to navigate the energy transition.
TotalEnergies Marine Fuels looks at the key drivers shaping the move to the decarbonization of shipping and timelines motivating the transition as well as required investments.
“Through our insights, knowledge and thinking, we hope to help develop a greater understanding of the key areas and considerations ship owners and operators will need to address, as they move towards tomorrow’s marine fuels landscape,” declared Jérôme Leprince-Ringuet, Vice-President Marine Fuels at TotalEnergies.
TotalEnergies also forecasts the LNG bunkering market would represent 10 percent of the entire bunkering market by 2030.
The Paris-based company noted that there were about 245 LNG-powered ships currently in operation and the market is expanding, given the number of newbuild orders for LNG-powered vessel.
Bunkering assets
The report added that there were now 26 LNG bunkering vessels in operation globally and the fleet would grow to 43 units offering an aggregated capacity of between 7 MTPA to 8 MTPA by early 2024 and up to 10 MTPA by 2025.
TotalEnergies deployed its first chartered LNG bunkering vessel in 2020. The “Gas Agility” has 18,600 cubic metres capacity and offers services around the Dutch port of Rotterdam.
The French company’s bunkering business partner is the Japanese shipping line, Mitsui OSK Lines.
The sister ship, the “Gas Vitality”, will be based at the Port of Marseille-Fos on the Mediterranean to serve the Marseille-based containerships operator CMA CGM and vessels from MSC Cruises calling at the French port.
The “Gas Vitality” was launched by the Chinese shipyard of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding at the end of April 2021.
TotalEnergies shares the use of a third bunker vessel in the Asian port of Singapore, where the company won a licence for LNG bunkering in February 2021.
The TotalEnergies bunkering licence from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore allows the supply of LNG in the Port from 2022.
TotalEnergies and Mitsui OSK Lines say first France-based LNG bunkering vessel completes trials
French major TotalEnergies and liquefied natural gas bunkering partner Mitsui OSK Lines of Japan said their first France-based LNG re-fuelling vessel built in China has completed sea and gas trials.
French major Total completes first ship-to-containership LNG bunkering in France’s waters at Dunkirk
French oil and gas major Total said it completed the first ship-to-containership liquefied natural gas bunkering operation in France’s waters at the Channel port of Dunkirk.
Total and Mitsui OSK Lines hold naming ceremony in Rotterdam for largest LNG bunkering vessel
French energy major Total and Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines have attended a naming ceremony in the Dutch port of Rotterdam for the “Gas Agility”, the world’s largest LNG bunkering vessel.
