CMA CGM, a global container carrier, will participate in the first ever New York Shipping Exchange (NYSHEX) fundraiser, the first digital marketplace for ocean freight contracts, the Company said in a media release.
This investment is made alongside Hapag Lloyd, GE Ventures and Goldman Sachs, for a cumulative investment of $13 million. It is carried out through CMA CGM Ventures, the corporate venture structure recently created by the CMA CGM Group and dedicated to investments in innovative technologies.
With this investment, CMA CGM, which already accounts for nearly 80% of its bookings by electronic means, meaning more than 6 million transactions per year, continues its digital transformation.
Rodolphe Saadé, CEO, has made the Group's digitalization one of its four priorities.
This was initiated in 2013, notably through the development of an e-commerce platform, which is now available, including in the form of a mobile application (since May 2017).
The aim of the group is to offer its customers digital tools adapted to their dematerialization and visibility improvement needs, but also to improve its own operational performance. The CMA CGM Group's digitization strategy is based on internal projects as well as on commercial or capital partnerships via its corporate venture structure.
This digital transformation enriches customer relationships in 755 offices in more than 160 countries to be expanded. Thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit that has characterized the Group since its inception, CMA CGM intends to continue its transformation and to continue to innovate, to strengthen its position among the leaders in its sector.
On the occasion of this investment in the United States, Rodolphe Saadé, CEO, said, "CMA CGM is pleased with the digital innovation NYSHEX brings to the container shipping industry. Digitization is essential to offer our customers new and differentiated products. This partnership is an additional step in the digital transformation of CMA CGM, aimed at continuously creating value for its customers."