LNG

CMA CGM, the French container shipping line based in the Mediterranean port of Marseille and the third-largest in the world and with a growing fleet of LNG-powered vessels, has a new service to the LNG fuel location of Ennore port on the East Coast of India.

The containerships will expand port coverage with a direct call to Ennore, near Chennai in India, on the Westbound leg of the service connecting North Europe and the Mediterranean with Oceania as from June 2023.

“This new call will offer our customers a fast export connection from the main commercial area in South East India to Europe together with a direct import connection from Australia and Singapore,” said CMA CGM.

“Ennore is also a natural gateway from/to the Inland Container Depot of Bangalore covered with efficient rail connectivity,” added the French company.

The other LNG fuel ports in CMA CGM’s so-called NEMO service include Fos Sur Mer near Marseille, La Spezia in Italy, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Malta and Singapore.

French LNG storage tanks designer GTT is supplying the tanks for six more LNG-powered containerships ordered from South Korea by CMA CGM.

The six containerships are being constructed at the Korean shipyard of Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries.

The vessels, each capable of carrying 8,000 containers, will be equipped with an LNG fuel tank with a capacity of 6,000 cubic metres.

The deliveries of the vessels are scheduled from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the fourth quarter of 2025.

CMA CGM is a pioneer of LNG-powered containerships and has about 12 more of the vessels being built in China.

The shipping line has said it is aiming to have a fleet of 44 LNG-fuelled containerships by 2024.

The 12 China-built vessels will be delivered between the last quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2024.

The construction contracts for those CMA CGM newbuilds were awarded to Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding and Jiangnan Shipyard Co.

Each of the Chinese yards is building six vessels able to carry between 13,000 and 15,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of containers.

The first ever LNG-powered containership was delivered to CMA CGM from the Hudong-Zhonghua yard and entered commercial operation in September 2020.

The 23,000 TEU “CMA CGM Jacques Saadé” was named after the late Lebanon-born founder of the shipping line and father of current Chairman Rodolphe Saadé.

Reganosa, the Spanish LNG terminal company, is expanding its portfolio of operated terminals by winning the contract to operate and maintain the regasification facility being brought online on the Italian island of Sardinia.

The Republic of Cyprus, which is part of the European Union, has posted tender documents for the supply and operation of a floating liquefied natural gas import facility to be located at the Cypriot port of Vassilikos and partly funded by the EU.

Japanese conglomerate Sojitz Corp. plans to expand international LNG activities with Spanish company Reganosa, owner of the Mugardos import terminal in northwest Spain.

July 24 (LNGJ) - The 210,185 cubic metres capacity “Al Bahiya” will deliver a partial cargo on July 25 to the Malta import facility from Ras Laffan in Qatar, according to shipping data. The 145,000 cubic metres capacity “Al Thakira” will unload a Qatargas shipment on July 28 at the Revithoussa import terminal in Greece. The 148,300 cubic metres capacity vessel “LNG Imo” will deliver a cargo on August 2 to the French Montoir-de-Bretagne terminal on the Atlantic Coast from Bonny island plant in Nigeria. The 150,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Seri Camellia”, owned by Malaysia International Shipping Corp., is scheduled to arrive on August 2 at the Cove Point export plant in the US East Coast state of Maryland to lift a cargo. The 155,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “British Sapphire” will deliver a shipment on August 9 to the Map Ta Phut terminal in Thailand from the Trinidad export plant in the Caribbean.

June 26 (LNGJ) - The 171,800 cubic metres capacity carrier “Stena Clear Sky” will lift a cargo on July 1 from the Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana, owned by Cheniere Energy, according to shipping data. The 160,000 cubic metres capacity vessel “Arctic Aurora” will deliver a shipment on July 3 to the import facility in the Mediterranean island state of Malta from the Hammerfest plant in Norway, operated by Equinor. The 210,000 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex vessel “Al Khattiya” is scheduled to unload a shipment on July 8 at the Portuguese import terminal at Sines from the Ras Laffan plant in Qatar. The 261,700 cubic metres capacity Q-Max carrier “Lijmiliya” will unload a Qatargas shipment on July 8 at the South Korean Incheon terminal. The 165,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Marib Spirit” will deliver a cargo on July 12 to the Kuwaiti Mina Al Ahmadi import facility from the Nigerian export plant at Bonny Island. The 165,500 cubic metres capacity vessel “Meridian Spirit” is scheduled to deliver a cargo on July 21 to the Dahej terminal in India, owned by Petronet, from the US Sabine Pass plant.

Jan 16 (LNGJ) - Reganosa, owner of the Mugardos import terminal at El Ferrol in northwest Spain, is the company with the contract to operate and maintain the first LNG regasification project of the Mediterranean island nation of Malta. The facility has just been brought on line with the recent delivery of the first cargo to the 125,000 cubic metres capacity LNG storage unit, the “LNG Armada Mediterrana”, to supply a combined-cycle gas power plant with capacity of 215 megawatts. Electrogas is a joint venture involving German power group Siemens, Azerbaijan energy company SOCAR and Maltese firm Gem Holdings Ltd.

Malta, the Mediterranean island nation and the smallest member of the European Union, has received a liquefied natural gas cargo from Spain at its floating storage unit in Marsaxlokk Bay to help complete its transformation into an LNG importer.

The Mediterranean island of Malta has seen the arrival offshore of a floating storage unit that will serve as a liquefied natural gas import facility moored next to a gas-fired power station.