Yachting Art Magazine

The French group has become the first international shipping company to order LNG-powered vessels from an Indian shipyard, as part of a strategic agreement signed with Cochin Shipyard Ltd.

The CMA CGM Group has signed a letter of intent for the construction of six 1,700 TEU container ships with dual-fuel LNG propulsion. These ships will be built by Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL), one of India's leading shipyards. With this agreement, CMA CGM becomes the first major international company to place an order for LNG ships with an Indian shipbuilder.

The ships will be registered under the Indian flag and delivered between 2029 and 2031. They will be developed in cooperation with South Korean shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries. The project is part of the group's strategy to modernise and decarbonise its fleet, while supporting India's maritime policy under the Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat programmes.

This initiative is in addition to several recent actions by the group in India: in 2025, CMA CGM registered four ships under the Indian flag and plans to recruit 1,000 local seafarers by the end of the year, with an additional 500 to be recruited in 2026. The company already employs 17,000 people in India and operates 19 weekly maritime services there.

The French group is also involved in port infrastructure, notably at the Nhava Sheva Freeport Terminal and the port of Mundra. In Chennai, its Global Business Services centre employs more than 9,000 people and supports the group's international operations.

For Cochin Shipyard, this order represents a major milestone. The shipyard is thus consolidating its role in the national strategy to make India a major player in global shipbuilding, as part of the Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047.

This Franco-Indian cooperation combines energy transition, local industrial development and maritime capacity building, while positioning CMA CGM in a strategic and rapidly growing market.