French liner shipping major CMA CGM SA on Monday ordered 10 new 15,000 TEU containerships from China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC).
The company said five of the ships will be powered with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), while the other half will be fitted with hybrid scrubbers to eliminate sulphur and other fine particles emissions in line with the new International Maritime Organisation (IMO) sulphur cap rule.
The deal worth $1.36 billion was inked by CMA CGM Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rodolphe Saadé and CSSC Chairman, Lei Fanpei in the presence of French President, Emmanuel Macron, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, who is on a state visit to France.
The ships will be delivered from 2021 and will be used to service the lines between Asia and the Mediterranean.
The deal is seen as a significant win for CSSC as it seeks to compete with bigger South Korean rivals at a time when orders for mega-container vessels are increasingly rare.