The 1,400 TEU short-sea vessel, built at Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard in China, is the first of two units to enter into commercial operation in Europe in 2021.

The container ship Borealis began its maiden voyage from China to northern Europe a few days ago, where it will work on routes between the Baltic States and Western Europe.

Containerships Aurora, Containerships Nord, Containerships Polar and Containerships Arctic will join their sister ships in the new building.

Handy container vessels are 170 meters in length and 27 meters in width. They are suitable for the operational area's navigational and climatic challenges in Northern Europe and the Baltics.

The CMA CGM Group now operates ten containerships operated by LNG and will have a fleet of 26 containerships of different sizes by 2022.

The LNG technology is one of the first steps taken by the CMA CGM Group to achieve its goal of being carbon neutral by 2050. At the same time, the company is stepping up efforts to broaden its logistics footprint in line with the CMA CGM's long-term plan.

On 12 February, CMA CGM announced the decision to build CMA CGM Air Cargo, a specialist air freight division. The move to air freight is said to reinforce the transport and logistics sector of the group.

The CMA CGM Group is buying four 60-tonne Airbus A330-200F freighter aircraft, which were placed into service between 2014 and 2016, to support its expansion.

“This expansion into air freight is a new milestone in the group’s strategic development, with the aim of providing group customers with a complementary range of services covering both shipping and logistics,” stated CMA CGM.

Maritime Business World