Crossing the Pacific on the slow Hyundai from China: CMA CGM Libra from HongKong to Long Beach
Starboard name plate
Having long reached an age where poorly-timed eastbound international flights (
i.e., those that have you arriving at midnight in your home time zone) have proven hugely disruptive to my sleep pattern, I’ve always wanted to try the gradual time-adjusting method of ship travel. Unfortunately trying to use cruise ships for this purpose is generally very limiting as far as timing and routes go (
e.g., trans-Pacific and Europe-Asia and are seasonally directional like migrating whales) and can be expensive as cruise lines find places to stop which serves to increase passenger desirability (and hence fares) but also to bump up port fees too. Fortunately, there is freighter travel but this is limited by the small number of ships who do offer paid passage. Having done research and having it in mind for over 20 years, I finally decided to give it a go.
Freighter travel is not new and was once a major means of intercontinental travel before the advent of the jet age as passenger steamers didn’t go everywhere, or weren’t the cheapest. Of course things have changed and the little tramp steamers and packet boats have now been replaced by container ships and we all know what passenger-carrying ships (d)evolved into.
The first challenge is finding a route where passenger travel is offered, and then the line. At least two lines I know that do offer passenger travel (Hanjin and Hamburg Süd) mention absolutely nothing on their websites. It would almost seem they regard passengers as a nuisance and their fares petty cash. CMA-CGM, for reasons to be explained, rather proudly does but has absolutely no indication of their routes.
Before we begin, some facts:
Containers – the industry
The shipping container system has become the universal mode of goods transportation to replace (or offload) loading or unloading of ships one bag, box or crate at a time. A standard container, also known as a measure of Twenty foot Equivalent Unit or TEU, is a container measuring 8’ wide, 20 long and 8 ½’ high. With the advent of larger trucks, most containers are 40’ these days with some even 45’ (which the Libra carries above deck), with some containers are also overheight at 9 1/2 ‘ with legal maximum weight of 34.8 tonnes. 48’ and 53’ containers also are used in the U.S. for rail and truck transportation (too long to be carried on a ship).
Sea freight is one of the cheapest methods of transportation, so container ships are the international trunk carriers, with further distribution by train, truck, smaller ships and barges. The vogue in North America is inter-nodal transportation where containers are double-stacked on rail carriages for transport to and from ports. Some containers may be trans-shipped by barges and small ships at either end to small ports from larger ones and vice-versa. CMA CGM has a ship of 150 TEUs to ferry containers between France and Tunisia; that capacity wouldn’t even fill the above deck space of half a hold slot on the Libra of which there are 20. Containers usually carry the logo of their shipping companies but some larger customers, such as JB Hunt (that big trucking outfit you see all over U.S. highways, and the retailer Canadian Tire (which may not ship with CMA CGM), have their own.
Containers are also used to ship perishables which are where the refrigerated container (“reefers”) are used. Essentially it is a container with an electric cooler (or freezer) built into one end and can be used to ship meats, vegetables, fruits, medicines, wine & beverages, frozen foods and a whole host of other temperature-sensitive goods. Ships have electrical outlets to power these (probably the biggest use of electrical power) and the Libra has some 800 points where reefers can be hooked up. I think that reefers originating from France at 10-15C would be the most fun to have a look inside.
The Shipping Line
The Line was formed in its current incarnation when the French government privatised its shipping entity CGM which was purchased by Jacques Saadé, a Frenchman of Lebanese origin who had founded CMA, and who has since built it up to the 3rd-largest shipping group, adding the logistics group CGM along the way.
CMA CGM ships can be found operating routes worldwide though some routes are pooled with or operated by other shipping lines. There are of course very regular sailings. From Europe to east and south Asia, South America, North America, Africa, various French possessions and territories, with the Europe-Australia route a particularly-popular passenger one. The line we are sailing is the weekly Pearl River Express which is a some 42-day rotation between east Asia ports primarily in southern China (the Pearl river is the river of GuangZhou a.k.a. Canton and its delta includes NanSha and HongKong where we boarded) and the U.S. west coast ports of Long Beach and Oakland. Another line we were supposed to have taken a ride on part of last year between Malta and Port Klang is the Columbus Loop which runs between the North American east and west coasts via Europe and Asia. With low fuel prices, the eastbound Europe stop was eliminated completely and the ships sail directly from Savannah to Port Klang. It would seem that a refuelling stop is necessary but these ships can hold enough fuel to sail for weeks.
Saadé believes that his line should carry passengers to keep the officers nice and civil (or make them that way, or try to – I can’t find the quote right now) so some 75 ships (mainly those under direct ownership/control rather than under management or acquired through mergers) of the 400+ fleet are outfitted to carry passengers. Even so, fewer than 1,000 passengers sail fleetwide annually. So this is where we find ourselves as part of this small number, not even 1/4th or 1/5th of one single, large cruise ship’s weekly load out of Fort Lauderdale. The Line had a luxury small ship cruise line, Le Ponant, but that was sold to focus on cargo.
Some say that passengers provide extra revenue to the line at very little marginal cost (other than the 2 or more employees at the Travel Department) but I wonder if the extra investment in outfitting the shape with cabins is recovered? Assuming 20-30 days of travel per passenger, extra revenue is only €2-3 million annually.
One reason I chose CMA CGM is because wine is reportedly served at lunch and dinner with the Line even having its own Château Paquebot label. As things turn out, it depends on what nationality the officer complement (“pavillon”) of your ship is. Due to E.U. mobility rules, don’t assume a ship flagged in one E.U. member country has officers from that country. French-officered ships also seem to be an increasing rarity.