CMA CGM Group will be retrofitting ten of its vessels’ bulbous bows in order to continue improving its fleet’s fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
Bulbous bows are the underwater part of the bow. Because of their influence on the vessel’s wave resistance, their design has a major impact on the vessel hydrodynamic efficiency. They were initially designed for 24 knots sailing speed. Following the implementation of the slow steaming, the Group’s vessels now sail at speeds between 16 to 18 knots. Bulbous bows have therefore been redesigned in cooperation with Hydrocéan, a French engineering company specializing in hydrodynamics.
Those ten vessels will be added to the list of fifteen vessels, whose bulbous bows have been modified in 2013 and 2014. All vessels that have entered the CMA CGM fleet in 2014 are sailing with optimized bulbous bows.
With this optimization, CMA CGM Group’s objective of a 50 per cent reduction in CO2/TEU-km emissions between 2005 and 2015 is on track to be met.