CMA CGM has put a fully electric inland barge into service in Vietnam, carrying cargo for Nike between the Ho Chi Minh City area and the Gemalink deep-water container terminal at Cai Mep. The French shipping group announced the launch in late October 2026, more than a year after unveiling a project it calls the first fully electric container barge in the country.
A battery-powered shuttle to the Gemalink terminal
The roughly 80-metre, battery-powered barge runs a round trip of about 180 km between an inland loading point in the Ho Chi Minh City region and Gemalink, the deep-water terminal operated by port group Gemadept at Cai Mep. CMA CGM says the vessel is designed to carry more than 50,000 TEU a year across repeated sailings, and that shifting those volumes from road to water should avoid roughly 778 tonnes of CO2 a year. The batteries rely on technology from China’s CATL, and the barge recharges at a dedicated station fed by a solar farm built at the Gemalink terminal — rated at up to 1 GWh of green electricity a year when the project was detailed in 2025.
An eight-year commitment from Nike
The project was first announced in December 2024 and is run through Green River Transportation, a joint venture between CMA CGM and Gemadept. Nike, a long-standing CMA CGM customer, has signed an eight-year agreement and committed to use 90% of the barge’s capacity, moving goods from its Vietnamese manufacturing sites to the port. CMA CGM, which operates 29 weekly services in Vietnam, presents the barge as a template it intends to replicate with other customers and in other countries.
“Decarbonizing global supply chains requires moving beyond ambition to deliver concrete, scalable solutions,” said Christine Cabau, Executive Vice President Assets and Operations at CMA CGM.
Sources
- The Maritime Executive — “CMA CGM Launches Inland Electric Barge to Support Nike in Vietnam” (29 October 2026)
- American Journal of Transportation — CMA CGM project announcement (28 May 2025)
- Discovery source: Supply Chain Magazine (30 October 2026).
