Wärtsilä lands ‘lifecycle’ deal for 14 LNG-fuelled CMA CGM boxships

Large CMA CGM container ships on Asia-Europe trades to get predictive maintenance and other support from Finnish engine manufacturer.

Wärtsilä is to supply French container line CMA CGM with Artificial Intelligence (AI)-leveraged predictive maintenance, dynamic maintenance planning, and 24/7 remote operational support for five 15,000 teu vessels and nine 23,000 teu container ships, operating on LNG and deployed on the Asia-Europe trade.

The agreement is with CMA Ships, a CMA CGM subsidiary, and will secure reliable operation of the 14 ships at a fixed cost. It will be based on the engineering company’s Expert Insight service which uses AI and predictive maintenance to optimise asset efficiency and reduce operating costs. All of the ships have WinGD two-stroke main engines, Wärtsilä four-stroke auxiliaries, and gas valve units.

Xavier Leclercq, CMA CGM Vice President, Newbuilding, commented: “The management of new fuels such as LNG can be complex and costly. This agreement with Wärtsilä will help us secure ship operations and optimise engine maintenance costs. We appreciate the co-operation and support that Wärtsilä continues to provide us in meeting our customer needs as effectively as possible.”

CMA CGM has a fleet size of more than 623 vessels with a combined capacity north of 3m teu. In its third quarter 2024 results, the company said it had committed $18bn to order 131 vessels capable of running on low-carbon fuels including biomethane, biomethanol, and synthetic fuels. Of those 131 ships, 12 new LNG-powered ships joined the fleet in the third quarter last year. The vessels are all scheduled to be operational by 2028.