Since the 1980’s, MN and the companies from which it derives, has been shipping Ariane launcher components between Europe and French Guiana ; from end 2009 to September 2021, this activity extended to the transportation of Soyuz components to French Guiana.
In order to provide these services, the RoLo Ariana, then the MN Toucan and MN Colibri, have been designed and built by MN in close cooperation with Arianespace. Today, these services are provided with the Ro-Ros MN Toucan (built in 1995) and MN Colibri (built in 2000), owned by MN which operates them on manning, technical, insurance, safety, security etc.
Until the end of the program, MN also managed the commercial operation of these vessels on behalf of Arianespace