Giant joins routine visits
The CMA CGM Mermaid, a colossal container ship with a capacity of over 2,000 standard containers (TEU), recently made a successful passage through the Kiel Canal. This vessel, designed to fit a maximum of steel boxes on board with a length of 205 meters and a width of 30 meters, required only one tugboat to enter the locks and managed the passage without tugboats.
This newly built ship, constructed at the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in South Korea, is part of a fleet of ten similar freighters ordered by CMA CGM. The ship's main engine and large tank for liquefied natural gas (LNG) are accommodated at the rear, with a tank capacity of 1,053 cubic meters of LNG.
While the CMA CGM Mermaid did not appear to be using green methanol during this passage, there are recent updates on the use of this fuel by other major shipping companies. Maersk, for instance, aims to deploy 19 methanol dual-fuel vessels by the end of 2025 and is preparing to receive its first e-methanol volumes from Europe by then. COSCO Shipping, another significant player, has already christened and put into operation methanol dual-fuel container ships and has bunkered green methanol in Chinese ports.
As for CMA CGM, although there is no specific mention of their direct use of green methanol in the latest information, a supplier of green methanol, Towngas, recently completed a significant supply of 5,000 tonnes of ISCC EU-certified green methanol for bunkering trials in Singapore with Golden Island. This growing availability and use of green methanol in maritime bunkering could indirectly support companies like CMA CGM if they choose to adopt this fuel.
In other news, the CMA CGM Mermaid is expected to use the Kiel Canal every two weeks, marking a significant increase in traffic for the canal. The passage on April 29 will be its next scheduled transit. On its return journey, the ship will have a draft of around 10 meters, which is larger than the maximum permitted draft of 9.5 meters in the Kiel Canal. However, the ship was not fully loaded in Hamburg, allowing it to fit through the canal.
The CMA CGM Mermaid is expected to return to Bremerhaven and Hamburg via Tallinn (Estonia) and Danzig (Poland) with containers. Four other ships ordered by CMA CGM are to be deployed in the Mediterranean, and six of the new container giants are expected to operate in Northern Europe from 2025, with the main ports being Hamburg, Bremerhaven, and Rotterdam.
The Kiel Canal, located in Kiel, has faced challenges such as defective locks, shortage of pilots, and insufficient tugboats, leading to a decline in traffic figures. However, the successful passage of the CMA CGM Mermaid without any problems indicates improvements in the canal's infrastructure and operations.
The CMA CGM, a shipping company from Marseille, has had ships built that are optimized for the dimensions of the Kiel Canal, ensuring smooth and efficient passage for their vessels through this important waterway.
- The CMA CGM, with its fleet of advanced ships built to maximize container capacity and optimized for the Kiel Canal, is positioning itself to take advantage of the growing availability and use of green methanol in maritime bunkering.
- As CMA CGM's new vessel, the CMA CGM Mermaid, continues to use the Kiel Canal every two weeks, the company's involvement in industries such as finance, technology, and transport is not only reshaping the global industry landscape but also encouraging investments in sustainable energy solutions like green methanol.
