The CMA CGM Notre Dame, the largest vessel of its kind powered by liquefied natural gas operating under the French flag, has completed its first transit through the Suez Canal as part of its inaugural commercial voyage between Singapore and France. The unit, part of the French CMA CGM group’s French Asia Line 3 (FAL3) service, is expected to arrive at the Bay of Algeciras on June 24, according to the shipping company's schedule and maritime tracking data.
The crossing through the Egyptian inter-oceanic route was confirmed on June 16 by the president of the Suez Canal Authority, Admiral Ossama Rabiee, who reported that the ship transited as part of the south convoy coming from Singapore destined for France. The Canal Authority assigned senior pilots to the ship and arranged escort tugs to accompany the maneuver, applying the protocol set for large vessels and for ships making their first passage through the canal. Admiral Rabiee himself participated in presenting a commemorative gift to the ship's captain, a common practice of the Egyptian institution for vessels that are debuting a route through the waterway.
The CMA CGM Notre Dame is 399.9 meters long, 61.3 meters wide, has a maximum draft of 16.5 meters, and a gross tonnage of 245,000 tons. Its cargo capacity reaches 24,212 TEUs, placing it among the largest units in the global fleet. The vessel is the first of ten units of this series that the company has planned to incorporate into its fleet under the French flag. The ship operates on liquefied natural gas and incorporates digital systems and artificial intelligence solutions applied to navigation, according to the shipping company.
After passing the Suez Canal, the ship has navigated through the eastern Mediterranean and, at the time of preparing this information, was approaching the Strait of Sicily heading west. Real-time maritime traffic data place the estimated arrival at the Algeciras anchorage early on June 24, with an estimated docking time of 9:00 hours. The stopover schedule published by CMA CGM for the Port of Algeciras confirms this forecast and assigns the ship to the operational area of Cernaval-Algeciras-Shipyard, with a scheduled departure at 13:00 hours on the same day.
