Total, Engie and CMA CGM Plan First Bio-LNG Production Unit in France

(TotalEnergies/Elengy/NGV Journal) EveRé, operator of the multi-process household waste treatment plant commissioned by Métropole Aix-Marseille-Provence; the CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics; Elengy, a subsidiary of Engie, operating LNG terminals at Fos-sur-Mer; and TotalEnergies, a global multi-energy company that produces and supplies energy, have joined forces to study the feasibility of creating first production unit for bio-LNG at a French port.

Produced by converting the biodegradable part of household waste from the Marseille Provence region, biomethane would allow for the energy transition and the decarbonization of shipping services departing from the Grand Port Maritime in Marseille and would be used primarily for the CMA CGM Group’s LNG-powered vessels. Using the area’s household waste will also help reduce local air pollutants, improving air quality and quality of life for people living in the region, and forming a circular economic system.

This project fits perfectly into the local ecosystem, benefiting from the particularly well-suited and already existing infrastructure at the Grand Port Maritime, including EveRé’s waste methanization unit; Elengy’s LNG terminals, which will be used for the storage and delivery of the bio-LNG; TotalEnergies’ bunker vessel, which will be located at the port as of January 2022; and CMA CGM’s fleet of LNG-fueled vessels. The feasibility study has been launched within the framework of this large-scale project, which corresponds with the national drive to promote bio-LNG as defined in France’s Mobility Orientation Law.

The CMA CGM Group, Engie and TotalEnergies have already been working together for several months as part of the Coalition for the Energy of the Future, which aims to step up the pace of development of future energy sources and technologies and to support new sustainable mobility models, thereby reducing the environmental impact of transportation and logistics.

In order to make true technological revolutions possible and achieve tangible results by 2030, the Coalition has set three main targets: to considerably increase clean energy supply sources; to reduce energy consumption per equivalent kilometer transported; and to reduce the proportion of emissions attributable to transportation and logistics. READ MORE