New CMA CGM Methanol-Powered Vessel Arrives in San Antonio

DP World San Antonio handled the inaugural call of a newly built CMA CGM container ship. The unit, registered under the flag of Malta, with a capacity to mobilize 13,136 TEU and dual-fuel methanol propulsion, arrived from Buenaventura, Colombia.

The milestone was established with the arrival of the CMA CGM Osmium, which is 335 meters long, 51 meters wide, and has a deadweight of 147,200 tons, at Site C2 operated by the San Antonio Port concessionaire. It will be agented by Ian Taylor.

The vessel, launched in March 2026 from the facilities of HD Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, will remain in the port until the afternoon of Wednesday, July 1, from where it will sail towards the Port of Chancay, Peru. It will perform 3,500 container movements, with 1,700 for loading and 1,800 for unloading.

The CMA CGM Osmium arrived in San Antonio as part of the French shipping company's combination of the Asia Central South America 1 (ACSA1) and Mexico Express (M2X) services. Its voyage began within the MX2 service, but it will depart from the Chilean terminal as part of the ACSA1 rotation.

Specifically, the ACSA1 will now extend to include calls at Busan, Xingang, Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Manzanillo, Lázaro Cárdenas, Buenaventura, San Antonio, Chancay, Callao, Posorja, Yokohama, and again Busan, using 13 vessels of between 13,000 and 15,000 TEU in a 91-day rotation.

The CMA CGM Osmium is the newest vessel on the ACSA1, along with its sister ships CMA CGM Copper (2026), CMA CGM Platinum (2025), CMA CGM Mercury (2025), and CMA CGM Helium (2025). These are followed by the CMA CGM Cape Cod (2024), the CMA CGM Buzios (2024), and the CMA CGM Greenland (2022).

Considering the five remaining vessels deployed in the service, the fleet has an average age of 4.69 years, with the oldest units being the CMA CGM Nevada and the vessel Edison, both built in 2011.

It should be noted that the vessels with the largest capacity to mobilize TEU are the CMA CGM Cape Cod, the CMA CGM Kimberley, and CMA CGM Greenland, each with 15,254 TEU. Closely following is the CMA CGM Chile with 15,072 TEU.

The CMA CGM Osmium is part of a new series of container ships named after elements from Mendeleev's table, also known as the periodic table, such as Cobalt, Platinum, Mercury, Helium, Krypton, Thorium, Argon, Silver, Copper, and Gold.

This group of vessels has 2,100 connections for refrigerated containers. Additionally, they are powered by a MAN B&W -7G95ME-C10.5 engine that develops a power of approximately 43,000 kW, making it possible to reach speeds of just under 21 knots.

The CMA CGM Osmium is expected to return to DP World San Antonio in September of this year. For its part, the CMA CGM Cooper will make its inaugural call to the San Antonio concessionaire during the month of August.