French liner giant CMA CGM has shown its heels to market leader Maersk in terms of profitability with the announcement of a spectacular 58% increase in net income last year to $966m.
The Marseilles-based liner group has put the emphasis on its dollar results this year but, even in euros, its net income rose 45% to E705m.
It broke with tradition in announcing its results by simple communiqué and a little earlier than usual but assured that the release of its results today had nothing to do with the fact that Maersk Line had presented its results the previous day.
Maersk Line’s container and terminals business returned a $217m net profit in 2007 after a loss of $568m in 2006 on turnover up from $25.3bn to $26.7bn.
CMA CGM saw its revenues increase 40% to $11.8bn (E8.61bn), with organic growth alone estimated at 35%, while its container carryings rose 29% to 7.68m
The family-owned, unlisted group said that profits would “as in previous years” be allocated to equity.
Executive board chairman Jacques Saade said, “We are very satisfied with our 2007 results.”
And he added, “CMA CGM will continue with its development strategy. We are getting ready for the arrival of a new generation of large vessels in our fleet which will represent a new era for the maritime shipping industry and for CMA CGM.”
Last year, the group launched 42 new services independently or with others, the majority of them to serve Asian trade growth. Eleven lines gave Asia new links with the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf, the United States, Latin America, Africa and Australia and 21 others for the intra-Asian market.
The group’s fleet largely kept pace with its expansion. Ninety eight vessels were brought into service to lift the number of vessels in the CMA CGM fleet to 384 and increase fleet carrying capacity 31% to 913,000 teu.
The capacity of the group’s container fleet itself was also expanded 28% to 1.54m teu.
The group recalled that it had made three acquisitions last year – Taiwanese intra-Asian specialist Cheng Lie Navigation, Moroccan national line Comanav and US Pacific niche operator US Lines - with the objective of reinforcing its global service network.
It said that it had also strengthened its “door to door” inland transport business, which had handled 41% more volume last year than in 2006.
It indicated that it had concentrated its efforts on the rail freight sector with investments by its subsidiary CMA Rail in Algeria, India and China, as well as Europe.
It also continued to invest in port terminals, with stakes acquired in terminals in Houston in the US, Casablanca and Tangiers in Morocco, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Xiamen in China, Caï Mep in Vietnam, Damietta in Egypt and Busan in Korea.
The Marseilles-based liner group has put the emphasis on its dollar results this year but, even in euros, its net income rose 45% to E705m.
It broke with tradition in announcing its results by simple communiqué and a little earlier than usual but assured that the release of its results today had nothing to do with the fact that Maersk Line had presented its results the previous day.
Maersk Line’s container and terminals business returned a $217m net profit in 2007 after a loss of $568m in 2006 on turnover up from $25.3bn to $26.7bn.
CMA CGM saw its revenues increase 40% to $11.8bn (E8.61bn), with organic growth alone estimated at 35%, while its container carryings rose 29% to 7.68m
The family-owned, unlisted group said that profits would “as in previous years” be allocated to equity.
Executive board chairman Jacques Saade said, “We are very satisfied with our 2007 results.”
And he added, “CMA CGM will continue with its development strategy. We are getting ready for the arrival of a new generation of large vessels in our fleet which will represent a new era for the maritime shipping industry and for CMA CGM.”
Last year, the group launched 42 new services independently or with others, the majority of them to serve Asian trade growth. Eleven lines gave Asia new links with the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf, the United States, Latin America, Africa and Australia and 21 others for the intra-Asian market.
The group’s fleet largely kept pace with its expansion. Ninety eight vessels were brought into service to lift the number of vessels in the CMA CGM fleet to 384 and increase fleet carrying capacity 31% to 913,000 teu.
The capacity of the group’s container fleet itself was also expanded 28% to 1.54m teu.
The group recalled that it had made three acquisitions last year – Taiwanese intra-Asian specialist Cheng Lie Navigation, Moroccan national line Comanav and US Pacific niche operator US Lines - with the objective of reinforcing its global service network.
It said that it had also strengthened its “door to door” inland transport business, which had handled 41% more volume last year than in 2006.
It indicated that it had concentrated its efforts on the rail freight sector with investments by its subsidiary CMA Rail in Algeria, India and China, as well as Europe.
It also continued to invest in port terminals, with stakes acquired in terminals in Houston in the US, Casablanca and Tangiers in Morocco, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Xiamen in China, Caï Mep in Vietnam, Damietta in Egypt and Busan in Korea.