First up, from Splash 24/7, March 6:
CMA CGM overtakes Maersk in the liner rankings
CMA CGM, the year’s most aggressive acquirer of ships to date, has made history.
As of this week, Marseille-headquartered CMA CGM has surpassed rival Maersk to the second spot on the liner rankings when including its huge orderbook.
The latest data from Alphaliner shows CMA CGM’s fleet – including ships on order – stands at 5.42m slots, some 140,000 teu more than its Danish rival. Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) remains far out in the lead, however, its fleet – including ships on order – is now at 8.47m slots, larger than the extant fleets of CMA CGM and Maersk combined....
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And from the Wall Street Journal, March 6:
French Shipping Giant CMA CGM Pledges $20 Billion Investment in U.S.
The world’s [No. 3 2] container line’s pledge comes as Trump pushes to revive the U.S. shipbuilding and maritime industry
French shipping giant CMA CGM pledged Thursday to invest $20 billion in U.S. logistics over the next four years.
Marseille’s CMA CGM intends to triple the size of the container line’s U.S.-flagged fleet, upgrade its U.S. port facilities and create a new airfreight hub in Chicago, among other moves, the company said.
A CMA CGM official said its $20 billion pledge represents the group’s U.S. investment plans. It wasn’t clear how much of the spending had been planned previously.
Rodolphe SaadĂ©, the billionaire chairman and chief executive of CMA CGM visited President Trump at the White House on Thursday. The company’s pledge comes as Trump pushes to resurrect commercial and military shipbuilding in America and to challenge China’s dominance of the global maritime industry in ways that threaten profits at the world’s largest ocean carriers.
Trump told Congress this week he would create a new Office of Shipbuilding in the White House. To raise revenue for the maritime sector, administration officials are considering an executive order that would include measures such as charging fees on Chinese-built ships calling at U.S. ports, according to a draft summary of the order reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
That idea, which is subject to change, draws on recent proposals under consideration by the U.S. Trade Representative’s office. The fees of up to $1.5 million per port call are opposed by U.S. trade and agriculture groups as well as by the container line industry.
CMA CGM’s chief financial officer in February said the fees would significantly hurt ocean carriers because China so dominates shipbuilding, according to news reports at the time. Almost 36% of CMA CGM’s container fleet, measured by capacity, is made in China, according to data firm Linerlytica. More than 64% of the company’s new order capacity is being built at Chinese shipyards.
The company operates a U.S.-flagged fleet of 10 containerships under its APL subsidiary. Because the ships are U.S.-flagged, they are crewed by U.S. sailors and are a preferred carrier for U.S. government and military cargo.
A CMA CGM official said the company will triple that fleet to 30 vessels using orders at South Korean shipyards. The official said CMA CGM wants to place new orders at U.S. shipyards but that will depend on the yards’ capacity.
CMA CGM routinely orders vessels from South Korea and China capable of carrying the equivalent of 18,000 containers.
U.S. shipyards build smaller containerships. APL’s U.S.-flagged fleet ranges in size from ships capable of carrying the equivalent of between 1,600 and 6,000 containers.
Saadé joins a growing line of executives who have visited Trump to pledge big U.S. investments over the next four years....
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