CMA CGM chairman and chief executive Rodolphe Saadé has warned that the French shipping and logistics group cannot plan for a quick return to normal traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, with alternative Gulf routes set to add $300m to first-half costs, according to comments made at a French parliamentary hearing on Tuesday.
Saadé said CMA CGM should not be “prisoners to Hormuz” and said it would be “unwise” to assume the waterway would simply reopen and return to its previous operating pattern even if a peace solution emerged in the coming weeks.
Chief financial officer Ramon Fernandez told the same hearing that rerouting would cost CMA CGM an additional $300m in the first half of the year.
Saadé said the Marseille-based group was carrying about a third of its previous container volumes to the Gulf. CMA CGM has been using road and rail links from more distant ports to keep serving customers while avoiding Hormuz. The company had 14 vessels trapped inside the Gulf at the start of the Iran conflict, according to the provided text. Two had since left, while one of the remaining ships was struck last month in an attack that injured eight seafarers.
Saadé’s comments point to a possible longer-term change in the way container lines plan and price Gulf services, with CMA CGM continuing to offer customers alternative routes as it adapts to a more volatile operating environment.
CMA CGM is a privately held French shipping and logistics group headquartered in Marseille and led by chairman and chief executive Rodolphe Saadé. The company says it operates in 160 countries, with 400 offices, 1,000 warehouses, 160,000 employees and more than 650 vessels. It serves 420 of the world’s 521 commercial ports and operates more than 250 shipping lines.