CMA CGM Notre-Dame, the world’s largest French‑flagged container ship docks at Le Havre

The 400‑metre long, 62‑metre wide CMA CGM Notre‑Dame, the biggest container vessel flying the French flag, arrived at the port of Le Havre after its inaugural voyage from Asia. Built by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding near Shanghai, the LNG‑powered ship can carry 24 000 TEU (the equivalent of 20 000 trucks or 600 freight trains) and displaces 107 000 tonnes. It is the first of a ten‑ship generation ordered by CMA CGM at a total cost of €2.5 billion.

The vessel travelled the short route via the Suez Canal, covering about 15 000 km, and was escorted by a French Navy frigate under the EU Aspides maritime‑security programme. Stops included Singapore and a waypoint off Algeciras before reaching Le Havre, a deep‑water hub that, together with Antwerp, Rotterdam and Hamburg, accommodates these ultra‑deep‑draft ships.

Politically, the choice of the French flag fulfills a pledge made by CMA CGM’s CEO Rodolphe Saadé to President Emmanuel Macron, committing to register ten new large vessels under the French flag and to recruit 135 French seafarers over the next two years. The ship’s LNG fuel reduces sulphur‑oxide, nitrogen‑oxide, particulate and CO₂ emissions compared with heavy fuel oil, though it remains a fossil‑based fuel.