Internship - Development of Operational Tools to Manage Tank Pressure on LNG-Fueled Containerships

Led by Rodolphe Saadé, the CMA CGM Group, a global leader in shipping and logistics, serves more than 420 ports around the world on five continents. With its subsidiary CEVA Logistics, a world leader in logistics, and its air freight division CMA CGM AIR CARGO, the CMA CGM Group is continually innovating to offer its customers a complete and increasingly efficient range of new shipping, land, air and logistics solutions.

Committed to the energy transition in shipping, and a pioneer in the use of alternative fuels, the CMA CGM Group has set a target to become Net Zero Carbon by 2050.
Through the CMA CGM Foundation, the Group acts in humanitarian crises that require an emergency response by mobilizing the Group’s shipping and logistics expertise to bring humanitarian supplies around the world.

Present in 160 countries through its network of more than 400 offices and 750 warehouses, the Group employs more than 155,000 people worldwide, including 4,000 in Marseilles where its head office is located.

YOUR ROLE

As part of your studies, you are currently looking for an end-of-studies internship or thesis project (Bac+5 / engineering school or Master’s degree in thermal sciences, energetics or fluid mechanics).

You will join the Technical Department of CMA Ships. Shipping is undergoing a major transformation driven by the decarbonization of the industry. During this transition, CMA CGM has committed to using Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as the marine fuel for its new fleet of container ships. LNG is stored on board at around -158°C and at atmospheric pressure, in tanks built into the ship’s structure (“membrane” or “type C” tanks). It produces lower emissions than conventional marine fuels (HFO, MDO).

As a multi-component fluid, LNG gradually evaporates because of heat ingress through the tank walls. Vessel motions (sloshing) increase this evaporation and raise tank pressure. Understanding these thermodynamic conditions and controlling evaporation are therefore major challenges for the safety and operational excellence of LNG-powered vessels.

Your role will be to improve, test and calibrate operational support tools that model the physical phenomena in the tank, and to manage their deployment into a ship-shore interface. These tools will help to:

• follow LNG saturation pressure in real time, to better support vessels in operation;
• help crews manage Boil-Off Gas (BOG) and control the tank’s thermodynamic conditions;
• better anticipate events that could lead to excessive gas generation and a significant pressure rise;
• predict LNG aging over time, to optimize the quantity and quality of LNG bunkered (methane number, stratification).

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

• Literature review: You will study the existing literature to understand how LNG behaves inside the tank.
• Onboard missions: You will board the company’s LNG vessels to observe tank behavior in situ under different operating conditions.
• Tool familiarization: You will get to know the operational tools developed in Python.
• Data collection campaign: You will define the terms of reference for data acquisition and follow the data collection campaign.
• Calibration & validation: You will calibrate and validate the tools with real data (LNG samples taken during bunkering).
• Deployment & report: You will manage the integration of the tools into the ship-shore interface, analyze the results and write the final report.

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

• Education: Bac+5 level, engineering school or Master’s degree specializing in thermal sciences, thermodynamics, energetics, fluid mechanics or modeling and numerical simulation.
• Technical skills:
  • Solid knowledge of thermodynamics, thermal sciences, fluid mechanics and energetics
  • Strong interest in modeling and programming; Fortran and Python required, C++ is a plus
  • Numerical analysis skills
• Languages: [to be completed – English likely]
• Personal qualities: Rigorous, with critical thinking, strong analytical skills and the ability to synthesize.

JOB ENVIRONMENT

• Location: Head Office – Marseille, with onboard missions on LNG vessels
• Duration: 6 months from January

Come along on CMA CGM’s adventure