Already an Airbus "aircraft carrier", with its first three ro-ro ships chartered to transport sub-assemblies for several aircraft families between European sites and the assembly line in the United States, Louis Dreyfus Armateurs has been chosen to build, acquire and operate three new sail-assisted vessels with dual engines (MGO/e-methanol).

It was well known that the "Airbus" contract for transporting aircraft subassemblies between its various production sites, held by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) since the 2000s with three chartered roll-on/roll-off ships, was up for renewal.

We knew that the European aircraft manufacturer's decarbonization requirements would be tightened. While awaiting the uncertain arrival of a zero-carbon aircraft powered by electricity or hydrogen, the Franco-German manufacturer is tracking its Scope 1 (direct) and 2 (indirect) industrial emissions, and has pledged to reduce them by up to 63% compared with 2015 by the end of the 2030 decade, in order to comply with the Paris Agreement.

As for the emissions generated by its aircraft in service (Scope 3, use of the product sold), it plans to reduce them by 46% by 2035.

But even if the versions coming off the assembly lines between 2030 and 2035 will emit 20% less CO2 than their predecessors, global production of the much-anticipated SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) stood at 250,000 t in 2022, or less than 0.1% of the 300 Mt of kerosene consumed each year in the skies and on airport tarmacs. In other words, the potential for greenhouse gas savings in one of the world's most energy-intensive forms of transport is to be found first and foremost in the supply chain.

LDA is to contribute to this with its low-carbon solutions. At least, that's one of the terms of the contract it has just been awarded.

View of the future ro-ro ship from an image provided by LDA

Four on the short list

Competing against a dozen bidders, four of whom were shortlisted, the French shipowner, now a specialist in ad hoc industrial offshore services, was chosen by Airbus to implement a new fleet, whose average CO2 emissions are to be reduced from 68,000 to 33,000 t per year by 2030. These are transatlantic routes, between Saint-Nazaire and Mobile in the USA, where the final assembly line for single-aisle aircraft is located.

To achieve this, the French group will build, acquire (they will be wholly owned by LDA) and operate three new vessels, which will be powered by a diesel propulsion system and operated under the French flag (Rif).

Consultation on current projects

Exclusive discussions with the shipyard are underway, and the final choice of builder and equipment should be made official in the next few days.

The three previous ro-ro ships (154 m long, 24 m wide and 6.5 m draught) built for Airbus - the Ville de Bordeaux (2004), the City of Hamburg (2008) and the Ciudad de Cadiz (2009) operated by its subsidiary LD Seaplane - had been entrusted to the Jinling Shipyard in Nanjin for the first, and to the ST Marine yard in Singapore for the next two. The price was estimated at $35 million per vessel.

At this stage, the plan is to combine six Flettner rotors - large rotating cylinders that generate lift using the wind - with two dual-fuel engines running on MGO and e-methanol.

Sailing will be optimized by the use of routing software, which has "the advantage of minimizing drag due to unfavorable ocean conditions", says LDA.

Tested solutions?

The numerous tests carried out for some time by the shipowner, in terms of routing, fuels and technologies, take on their full meaning in the light of this contract.

For over eighteen months, Son Ville de Bordeaux tested the 500 m² SeaWing kite from Nantes-based Airseas on transatlantic routes. The tests have been completed, but Airseas and its shareholder Airbus are unlikely to go any further at this stage.

LDA va désormais mettre à l’épreuve, en conditions réelles pendant le premier semestre 2024, trois ailes rigides eSails du fabricant espagnol bound4blue, dans lequel le spécialiste des cuves de GNL GTT a récemment investi.

Its Ciudad de Cadiz is running on HVO derived from the recycling of used vegetable oils, a substitute for marine diesel (MGO), and is testing the Amphitrite routing system. One is tempted to think that the company was exercising its right of inventory with a view to building up its offer.

Three vessels to be delivered in 2026

The ro-ro vessels are scheduled for delivery, the first in early 2026, the second in the second quarter and the last in the third quarter. The charter contract is for 15 years firm, with a further five-year option period to be exercised.

The amount of the contract was not disclosed, as the group did not wish to comment on this point "for the time being".

Redeployment of the current fleet?

As for the three ships currently in service for Airbus, the Ville de Bordeaux will remain in the Airbus fleet, and will be operated on a Mediterranean route (for the record, the Ciudad de Cadiz is currently assigned to a regular service between Tangiers, Tunis and Naples, which also involves Montoir). As a reminder, this is not Le Ville de Bordeaux's first reassignment. The ro-ro had been designed to transport parts for the A380, production of which has been halted.

The redeployment of the other two vessels is still under discussion with the Toulouse-based group.

Airbus ramps up production

The renewal of the fleet is also in line with Airbus' ambition to increase the production rate of the A320 family to 75 aircraft per month by 202, adds LDA. "The new ships will have the capacity to carry around seventy 40-foot containers and six single-aisle aircraft subassemblies (wings, fuselage, engine masts, horizontal and vertical stabilizers), compared with three to four subassemblies on the current freighters," adds LDA.

Cyclically, in fits and starts, activity linked to A320 and A350 orders required the use of two ro-ro ships with two rotations per week between Montoir and Hamburg.

Having already won the contract to transport components for the A380, A320 and A400M, Louis Dreyfus Freight Solutions was also selected in October 2021 to transport parts for the A220 program (designed to replace the A318 and A319 single-aisle jets), between the Shenyang production site in China and the Mirabel assembly plant in Canada, via the Panama Canal.

For this new contract, the subsidiary specializing in freight forwarding and maritime logistics services has teamed up with Norwegian ro-ro shipowner Wallenius Wilhelmsen, a specialist in vehicle logistics, to offer a combined road-sea service.

Airbus is doing well or better

After years of crisis, during which aircraft were grounded, the market is picking up again for Airbus. The historic order for 500 of its A320 NEO by the Indian airline Indigo at the Paris Air Show last June bears witness to this. In any case, Airbus' order book, which stood at 8,024 firm orders at the end of August, guarantees more than ten years of production.

For LDA, this renewed confidence is not only recognition of the service it provides, but also ratification of the port-starboard strategy it has pursued over the past two decades, moving from the simplest form of shipping with bulk carriers to complex maritime services with vessels designed to meet specific needs.

An unusual story

The company has an unusual history.

A long-standing player in the bulk sector, LDA first "abandoned" capesize and spot, a market monopolized by powerful mining groups and "unreasonable" for a family-run business that can't afford to make "an unreasonable amount of money over a short period but also lose a lot over a longer period", nor to be "where the Chinese can do it almost as well, but cheaper", in the words of Philippe Louis-Dreyfus, the man behind the company's move into offshore marine services.

After refocusing on handysize, which allowed an industrial approach with long-term contracts, the company put an end to its past in bulk in August 2022, ready to assume its more expert positioning in maritime and port logistics.

Other crossing

These include Airbus activities, but also industrial marine solutions, such as the laying and repair of fiber-optic submarine cables, a sector in which LDA, involved in a joint venture with Alcatel Submarine Networks/Nokia, has become one of the world's leading cable-laying operators (fleet of 12 vessels).

Or wind energy logistics, where the Group, then inexperienced but with 40 years of expertise in complex marine works and knowledge of soils at depths of up to 8,000 m, forced its way in by responding to a call for tenders. It won out over 17 competitors with extensive experience in the sector.

The contract has triggered an order for the Wind of Change and Wind of Hope, SOV service vessels for wind farm maintenance on behalf of Danish energy company Orsted. In this field, LDA is going from strength to strength, although for the moment it is content with peripheral activities such as blade and turbine maintenance, and the transport of technicians...

In the 2000s, without even being invited, LDA had the nerve to offer the European aircraft manufacturer a complete maritime logistics package, including ship specifications. This was based on the simple conviction that the Beluga would not be sufficient to transport the fuselage components of the A380, the very largest aircraft yet to be built. The relevance of this mode of transport survived the program's termination.

By forcing the hand, LDA created the need that today meets the imperative need to decarbonize. What a journey.

Adeline Descamps