France: CMA CGM world's third largest container shipping company

CMA CGM, based in Marseille, France is the World's third largest container shipping company. Led by its founder Jacques R. Saadé, CMA CGM is a global carrier which operates on all the world’s oceans. CMA CGM’s mission is to offer its customers top quality, door-to-door solutions and increasingly comprehensive global coverage.

CMA CGM has maintained a strong presence in some of the reefer niche markets, such as the French West Indies (bananas) and Morocco (citrus), where the Group enjoys the position of market leader. Claus Peter Ellemann Jensen, Vice President Reefer, CMA CGM, tells us “We have used this expertise to gradually develop our activities into other markets. Latin America is an area where CMA CGM has grown well over the last 4-5 years.” He goes on to say that the group is also building an ever increasing presence out of North America, West Africa (through its subsidiary Delmas) and Australia/New Zealand where CMA CGM’s subsidiaries ANL and USLines are very successful.

The reefer has revolutionised the transport world. With the arrival of reefer containers, customers have benefited from two major improvements: container transport flexibility and cold chain maintenance from the place of production right to the delivery point. As a result, reefers have become increasingly popular. In fact, while conventional and container refrigerated transports rise 8% each year, reefer transport alone accounts for 18%.



CMA CGM is running a very tight ship, commercial and logistic activities working closely together. Due to an increase of 30% in the reefer fleet in 2007 and 2008 they now have a young and bigger fleet, this increase has mainly been absorbed by spreading out services to most of the fresh and frozen produce markets.

The containerised reefer market has performed well in 2009, up on 2008. Many trades continue to see a transfer from conventional to containerised reefer shipments. CMA CGM has experienced a particularly positive development within the transportation of deciduous fruit and citrus as well as bananas.

Claus Peter Ellemann Jensen sees a stable future for reefer transport. “We have noticed a switch of transport mode from conventional to container, and with a flat global container fleet (and a continuous reduction in conventional capacity), we even foresee a ‘crunch’ in supply, which we expect will have a positive effect on rates in 2010, where customers will focus increasingly on high service, equipment guarantees and space protection.”

North America and Europe remain the major destinations for fresh produce, with East Europe and Russia representing the biggest growth. According to Mr Ellemann Jensen,”Intra-Asian volumes are also significant, where CMA CGM shall grow further through its Intra Asian subsidiary, CNC, which has played an important role in strengthening CMA CGM’s position within the fresh produce trade.” CMA CGM’s fleet has grown 30% in 2008 alone, to 93 500 TEUs and will consider increasing it, should business development opportunities allow it to do so.

For more information visit:www.cma-cgm.com

Publication date: 10/26/2009
Author: Nichola Watson
Copyright: www.freshplaza.com

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