CMA CGM S.A. is a French container transportation and shipping company,
headed by Jacques Saadé. It is the third largest container company in the world,
using 170 shipping routes between 400 ports in 150 different countries. Its
headquarters are in Marseille, and its North American headquarters are in
Norfolk, Virginia, USA. History
Compagnie Générale Maritime The history of CMA CGM can be traced back to the
middle of the 19th Century, when two major French shipping lines were
created, respectively Messageries Maritimes in 1851 and Compagnie Générale
Maritime in 1855, soon renamed Compagnie Générale Transatlantique in 1861. Both
companies were created partly with the backing of the French State, through the
award of mail contracts to various destinations, French colonies and
overseas territories as well as foreign countries. After the two World Wars, the
two companies became "State owned corporations of the competitive sector",
i.e. companies that, while owned by the State, were run as private for-profit
businesses operating in competitive markets. The French government, under
President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Prime Minister Jacques Chirac,
progressively merged the two companies between 1974 and 1977 to form Compagnie
Générale Maritime, which was still owned by the French State and still run as a
competitive business, although sometimes subject to political pressure, for
instance on the selection of shipyards to build new ships.
Compagnie Générale Maritime operated as such from 1974 to 1996 when it was
privatized by the French State under President Jacques Chirac and prime
Minister Alain Juppé. During these 22 years it operated freight and container
liner services in various global trade lanes, as well as a fleet of dry bulk
ships, and a few large oil tankers and Liquefied Natural Gas tankers, with
headquarters located in Paris western suburbs, first in Paris-La Defense, then
in close-by Suresnes. The CGM liner services, mostly
containerized but also operating a significant fleet of "Con-Ro" vessels
able to load Roll-on/roll-off cargoes, were re-structured from the two parent
companies' main trade lanes, i.e. Western trade lanes for Compagnie
Générale Transatlantique and Eastern trade lanes. After merger and
re-structure, CGM's liner services were managed in four distinct Trade
Divisions, North America & Far East which also managed the bulk and tanker
fleets, South America & Caribbean, Pacific & Indian Ocean and Short Sea
Trades. Separately, Mr. Jacques Saadé had
created CMA in 1978 as an intra-Mediterranean liner service
operator, based in Marseille. In 1996, CGM was privatized and sold to Compagnie
Maritime d'Affrètement to form CMA CGM. In 1998 the combined company purchased
Australian National Lines. CMA CGM acquired its French rival Delmas
based in Le Havre from the Bolloré group in September 2005 for 600 million Euros.
The acquisition was completed in early January 5, 2006. The resulting
corporation became the third largest container company in the world behind
the Danish A.P. Moller-Maersk Group and the Swiss Mediterranean Shipping Company
S.A.. On April 4, 2008, pirates seized the CMA
CGM luxury cruise ship "Le Ponant" off the coast of Somalia.
CMA CGM and its affiliates have been victimized in various arms-shipping
incidents. November 2009: South Africa seized arms
traveling from North Korea by way of China. The seizure amounted to two
containers filled with tank parts and other military equipment from North
Korea, which included “gun sights, tracks and other spare parts for T-54
and T-55 tanks and other war material valued at an estimated $750,000.” The
military equipment was concealed in containers lined with sacks of rice and
shipping documents identified the cargo as spare parts for a “bulldozer”.
According to the report, the containers were originally loaded in Dalian, China
onto the CMA CGM Musca, a UK-flagged container ship. The shipment was
reportedly destined for Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo.
July 2009: The United Arab Emirates seized a shipment of weapons from North
Korea destined for Iran. The shipment was made in violation of UN Security
Council Resolution 1874, which bans all North Korean Arms exports. The weapons,
which included RPGs, detonators, ammunition, and rocket propellant, were
shipped by a Bahamian-flagged vessel of ANL Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary
of CMA CGM. October 2010: Nigerian authorities
seized 13 shipping containers carrying illegal Iranian weaponry at Lagos’ Apapa
Port. The containers included 107 mm artillery rockets, explosives and rifle
ammunition. The arms were to be shipped next to The Gambia, with the final
destination of the cargo possibly the Gaza Strip. The MV CMA CGM Everest
originally picked up the containers from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. CMA
CGM says it was victim of a false cargo declaration, claiming the weapons were
shipped in packages labeled as "glass wool and pallets of stone" and that the
Iranian shipper "does not appear on any forbidden persons listing".
March 2011: Israeli forces intercepted the vessel Victoria in international
waters in the Mediterranean Sea, stating that it was carrying weapons by Iran via
Syria. According to Israeli officials, the arms shipments included "roughly
2,500 mortar shells, nearly 75,000 bullets and six C-704 anti-ship
missiles". Israel said the ultimate destination of the cargo was for the
Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. CMA CGM, which chartered the vessel, stated, "The
ship's manifests do not show any cargo in contravention [of] international
regulations, and we do not have any more information at this stage."
As a result of CMA CGM's involvement in Iranian weapons smuggling, US
congressmen have called on CMA CGM to be investigated and urged the US Treasury
Department to consider levying sanctions against the shipper. The company has
since implemented tighter procedures for accepting shipments bound for Iran,
including scanning all containers destined the country. CMA CGM also
ceased exporting from Iran from November 2011.
In 2014, CMA CGM signs the OCEAN THREE agreements. The group strengthens its
offer by signing major agreements on the biggest worldwide maritime trades with
CSCL and UASC. In April 2015, the group acquired a
strategic stake in LCL Logistix, a logistics leader in India, via its
subsidiary CMA CGM LOG. Key Figures
Subsidiaries Other maritime activities
Australian National Lines ANL Delmas
MacAndrews Comanav
U.S. Lines Cheng-Lie Navigation Co. Ltd
OPDR Terminal activities
Terminal Link - container terminals developer and operator, ranked N°12
worldwide CMA Terminals Holding
Intermodal activities and logistics Progeco
CMA CGM Logistics Greenmodal Transport
Rail Link River Shuttle Containers
Support activities CMA Ships
Joint Ventures CMA Systems
Fleet In 2015, CMA CGM's fleet gathers: - 445
vessels - 2,244,509 container TEUs - 185,000 reefer containers
This fleet sails 170 maritime services and calls 400 ports in 160 countries -
there are 521 commercial ports in the worlds at the moment.
Some emblematic group's vessels are: - the CMA CGM Jules Verne was baptized in
June 2013 by the French President François Hollande. At that time, this
vessel sailing under French flag was the world's biggest containership - the CMA
CGM Kerguelen - The CMA CGM Vasco de Gama - The CMA CGM Bougainville
CMA CGM Corporate Foundation for Children
Created in 2005, the CMA CGM Corporate Foundation for Children's objective is
to improve the well-being of children. It defined 3 different targets: - To
improve the everyday lives of children who are ill - To promote equal
opportunities for children coming from underpriviledged backgrounds - To
encourage the personal development of children with disabilities
References External links
Media related to CMA CGM at Wikimedia Commons
CMA-CGM - General Company Information and Services