SIMIC

The LNG-powered, 14,800 TEUy CMA CGM Tenere is one of six containerships in a series being built for EPS by Hyundai Samho, a unit of shipbuilding giant Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co.

The six neo-Panamax box ships are each powered by dual-fuel MAN B&W 11G90ME-GI main engines capable of running on LNG or traditional diesel bunker fuel.

The 366-metre-long vessels were ordered by EPS in April 2018 and will be delivered by the third quarter of 2022. They will be chartered by French container shipping company CMA CGM.

The French shipping carrier is to take delivery soon of even larger LNG-powered containerships, starting with the 400-metre-long, 23,000-TEU capacity CMA CGM Jacques Saade from Shanghai Jiangnan-Changxing Shipyard. The Chinese shipyard is building nine vessels in the series for CMA CGM, that aims to operate at least 20 LNG-fueled containerships by 2022, reports New York's MarineLink.

More and more shipowners in various segments - from bulk carriers to cruise ships - are looking to LNG-powered vessels to meet the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) environmental regulations that call for ship emissions to be reduced by more than 30 per cent by 2025 from 2008 levels. The IMO rules also target 40 per cent emissions reductions by 2030 and by 70 per cent reductions by 2050.