Rodolphe Saade-led CMA CGM, the world's third-biggest container carrier, will sign a firm contract with state-owned Cochin Shipyard Ltd on February 18, 2026, for constructing six container ships in a deal worth about $300 million, catapulting India into the big league of shipbuilding nations.

Saade, chairman and chief executive officer of France-based CMA CGM, will himself be present at the shipbuilding order-signing ceremony in Delhi on Wednesday, along with representatives from the Office of Emmanuel Macron, President of France, underscoring the significance of the order to both nations, multiple sources said.

The signing ceremony will be held in the presence of Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Jose V J, chairman and managing director of Cochin Shipyard.

Each box ship will have a capacity to carry 1,700 20-foot equivalent units, or TEUs – a common measure of capacity in the container business – and will be powered by liquefied natural gas, a fuel of which CMA CGM is a big votary in the path to decarbonisation of the shipping industry.

The firm order follows a Letter of Intent signed between CMA CGM and Cochin Shipyard in October last year.

Since then, CMA CGM and Cochin Shipyard have been fine-tuning the order details while awaiting guidelines for the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance (SBFA) scheme, issued by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways in late December.