CMA CGM
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 200 shipping routes between 400 ports in 150 different countries.[1] Its headquarters are in Marseille,[2] and its North American headquarters are in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.
History
The history of CMA CGM can be traced back to 1851 when Messageries Maritimes (MM) was established. Another component company, Compagnie Générale Maritime (CGM), was founded in 1855 and renamed Compagnie Générale Transatlantique in 1861. The two companies merged to form Compagnie Générale Maritime in 1973 as a French state-run entity.
Jacques Saadé created CMA in 1978 as an intra-Mediterranean liner service. In 1996, CGM was privatized and sold to Compagnie Maritime d'Affrètement (CMA) to form CMA CGM.[3]
In 1998 the combined company purchased Australian National Lines (ANL). The company is still growing and has ordered 58 new vessels (owned outright or on long-term leases) to be delivered over the next four years.
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..[4]
Incidents
Piracy
On April 4, 2008, pirates seized the CMA CGM luxury cruise ship "Le Ponant" off the coast of Somalia.
Arms shipments
CMA CGM and its affiliates have been implicated in various arms shipping incidents:
- 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 says the ultimate destination of the cargo was for the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.[5] 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."[6]
- October 2010: Nigerian authorities seized 13 shipping containers carrying illegal Iranian weaponry at Lagos’ Apapa Port. The containers included 107 mm artillery rockets (Katyushas), 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."[7]
- 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 Point Noire in the Republic of Congo.[8][9]
- 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.[10][11]
As a result of CMA CGM's involvement in Iranian weapons smuggling, U.S. congressmen have called on CMA CGM to be investigated and urged the U.S. Treasury Department to consider levying sanctions against the shipper.[12]
Key figures[13] (*teus : twenty-foot equivalent units)
|
CMA CGM 2008 |
| Total Revenue |
USD 15,1 billions |
| Number of containers carried |
8.9 million teus* |
| Total fleet vessel |
384 |
| Total fleet capacity |
1.1 million teus* |
| Staff Worldwide |
17,000 employees |
| Staff in France |
4,200 employees |
| World ranking |
3rd |
Subsidiaries
- Terminal Link - Container Terminals developer and operator, ranked N°12 worldwide
- Rail Link (multimodal rail-bound transport solutions)
- River Shuttle Containers (Rhône – Saône axis containerised river transportation)
- CMA CGM Logistics (purchase to delivery global carrier)
- Qualitair & Sea (custom engineering air freight logistics)
- Progeco (container: sales, leasing & repairing)
- Australian National Lines ANL (Oceania, Asia, Europe & US trades)
- COMANAV (Passenger ferry and container services from Morocco to Europe)
- MacAndrews (Iberian Peninsula shipping and travel industry services)
- Delmas (Container and RoRo line)
- OT Africa Line (West Africa container line)
- CMA CGM Croisières & Tourisme
- Yacht luxury cruises (64-passenger Ponant, 90-passenger Levant, and 226-passenger Diamant)
- Trips onboard container carriers
- Compagnie du Ponant (leading French-flagged cruise company)
- Tapis Rouge International (luxury travel tour operator)
- CMA Ships (a wholly owned subsidiary managing all fleet-related operations)
- Cheng-Lie Navigation Co. Ltd (Intra-Asia Container Line based at Taiwan)
Joint Ventures
Maritime Lines
- ECS (Europe Caribbean Service)
- ACSA (Asia Latin America)
- FAL (Europe Far East Service)
- NAF (North Africa Service)
- SAMWAF (Latin America West Africa)
References
External links