The LNG will be supplied by Total Marine Fuels Global Solutions for the shipping company's future 15,000-TEU containerships that will operate between Asia and the Mediterranean. The vessels are scheduled for delivery from 2021, reported Fort Lauderdale's Maritime Executive.

As part of the deal, Total will provide a suitable solution for the bunkering of box ships by positioning a LNG bunker vessel at the French port of Marseille-Fos and by offering a complementary bunkering solution in Singapore.

Total Marine Fuels Global Solutions has also signed a charter contract for a second large LNG bunker vessel with Japan's MOL to be delivered in 2021 for positioning in Marseille-Fos port.

The vessel will be built by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in China. She will have a capacity of 18,600 cubic metres and a length of 135 metres and will be fitted with the Mark III membrane containment system provided by French company GTT.

She has been specifically designed to supply LNG bunker in the Mediterranean area to a wide range of vessels, including containerships, tankers, ferries and large cruise ships. She will use LNG as propulsion fuel and have a complete re-liquefaction system for the boil-off gas.

The newbuild vessel will be operated under French flag by MOL, jointly with Gazocean, a company based in Marseille experienced in LNG transportation.

The agreement follows the launching of Total's first LNG bunker vessel earlier this year in Shanghai, which will supply LNG bunker to CMA CGM's 23,000-TEU containerships in northern Europe.

At the French Maritime Economy Conference, CMA CGM Group chief executive officer Rodolphe Saade recommended that French President Emmanuel Macron initiate an international coalition for the energy transition of the transportation sector whose priority will be to develop a more competitive and less carbon-intensive energy source.

Mr Saade stressed the need to improve the cooperation of all those working on near-term solutions to replace fossil fuels in the transportation and logistics sectors. The French President accepted to actively support this initiative, whose first forum could be held at the World Conservation Congress in Marseille in June 2020.

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