CMA CGM launches €200 mln call for decarbonization projects

French container shipping major CMA CGM Group has invited start-ups and businesses working on concrete solutions to submit projects that aim to speed up the decarbonization of the French shipping industry.

The company has committed a €200 million budget for the projects from its five-year $1.5 billion budget, which was launched in September 2022 to accelerate its energy transition and achieve net-zero carbon by 2050. The financing comes in support of the €300 million the French Government is allocating for the development of zero-emission vessels and it was announced by Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the CMA CGM Group.

The call for projects is open to all companies in the French shipping industry that want to step up the pace of decarbonizing the “blue economy” or shipping industry in mainland France and the French overseas departments and territories in the following areas:

• freight transportation
• tourism and cruising
• fishing and seafood products
• infrastructure
• naval and nautical industries
• renewable energies.

Projects will be selected based on their concrete impact on the decarbonizing of the French shipping industry, the maturity of the projects and the economic feasibility. CMA CGM said that some of them may receive shared investments from the public sector and private operators and beneficiate from the assistance of shipping industry experts to give them every chance of success.

In collaboration with the French State Secretariat for the Sea and the various public sector bodies involved in the France 2030 plan, and in accordance with its commitment, the CMA CGM Group will open the platform on January 22, 2023.

CMA CGM’s special fund, backed by a five-year $1.5 billion budget, has been earmarked to support the industrial production of new fuels and low-emission mobility solutions across the company’s business base, including maritime, overland, and air freight shipping, port, and logistics services, and offices.

The company has been investing heavily in decarbonization activities, including LNG-powered ships. Nevertheless, CMA CGM wants to transition from LNG as a bridging fuel to e-methane. The company’s “e-methane ready” fleet currently counts 29 vessels in service and is scheduled to have a total of 77 by 2026.

Furthermore, in June 2022, following in the footsteps of Maersk, CMA CGM placed its first order for methanol-powered vessels. The shipowner ordered a total of six 15,000 TEU dual-fuel methanol-powered containerships from an unnamed shipbuilder.

The newbuilds are planned to join the CMA CGM fleet by the end of 2025.

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Apply here for CMA CGM’s call for projects.