Total Finds Ally for Marine LNG Push
Total and French shipowner CMA CGM said February 1 they have signed a memo of understanding (MoU) lasting three years to combine expertise in preparing for stricter ship fuel regulations. However it's not the first such agreement signed by the shipowner.
Total said it will support CMA CGM by becoming its multifuel supplier, providing a comprehensive range of fuelling options: fuel oil with a sulfur content of 0.5%; fuel oil with 3.5% sulphur for ships equipped with scrubbers (exhaust gas cleaning systems); and LNG which is virtually sulphur-free.
Total Marine Fuels was renamed Total Marine Fuels Global Solutions on February 1 2017. Total said it also intends in particular to become “a leading player in the LNG bunker market”.
Photo credit: CMA CGM
However, it will face healthy competition in that market: Shell, Qatargas and Engie were among the founder members last year of SEA\LNG which aims to promote LNG as a bunker fuel; Total it only recently. Woodside also is positioning itself to become a key marine LNG supplier. So too is ExxonMobil.
Rodolphe Saade, CMA CGM vice chairman, said: “Solutions offered by Total will enable us to further minimize the environmental impact of the Group’s activities and is a next step in building a more environmentally-conscious shipping industry.” Its 536 vessels call at more than 420 ports worldwide.
However this is not the first such agreement. Engie CEO Isabelle Kocher went to the shipowner's Marseille headquarters on October 19 2016 to sign an MoU on use of LNG as an alternative to heavy fuel oil. Under the accord, both firms agreed to set up a joint CMA CGM-Engie technical and economic study on LNG as a fuel for container ships of the future, and a study about the development of engineering specifications for a bunkering vessel adapted to LNG-powered container ships.
The shipowner said in November 2015 that it had improved its fleet's CO2 performance by 50% in the preceding ten years. However it is not known to have any specially-built LNG-fuelled ships either in operation or on order.
Mark Smedley