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The story
Founded by Jacques Saadé in 1999.1
The history of CMA CGM can be traced back to the middle of the 19th century, when two major French shipping lines were created, respectively Messageries Maritimes (MM) in 1851 and Compagnie Générale Maritime (CGM) in 1855, soon renamed Compagnie Générale Transatlantique in 1861. Both companies were created partly with the backing of the French State, through the award of mail contracts to various destinations, French colonies and overseas territories as well as foreign countries. After the two World Wars, the two companies became "State owned corporations of the competitive sector" (Entreprise publique du secteur concurrentiel), i.e., companies that, while owned by the State, were run as private for-profit businesses operating in competitive markets. The French government, under President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, progressively merged the two companies between 1974 and 1977 to form Compagnie Générale Maritime, which was still owned by the French government and still run as a competitive business, although sometimes subject to political pressure, for instance on the selection of shipyards to build new ships.
Compagnie Générale Maritime (CGM) operated as such from 1974 to 1996 when it was privatized by the French state under President Chirac and Prime Minister Alain Juppé. During these 22 years it operated freight and container liner services in various global trade lanes, as well as a fleet of dry bulk ships, and a few large oil tankers and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tankers, with headquarters located in Paris' western suburbs, first in Paris-La Defense, then in close by Suresnes.
The CGM liner services, mostly containerized but also operating a significant fleet of "Con-Ro" vessels able to load roll-on/roll-off cargoes, were re-structured from the two parent companies' main trade lanes, i.e. Western trade lanes (Americas) for Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT) and Eastern trade lanes (Asia, East Africa, Pacific, plus Eastern South America) for Messageries Maritimes (MM). After the merger and re-structure, CGM's liner services were managed in four distinct Trade Divisions, North America & Far East (AMNEO, for Amérique du Nord & Extrême Orient) which also managed the bulk and tanker fleets, South America & Caribbean (AMLAT), Pacific & Indian Ocean (PACOI) and Short Sea Trades (Cabotage).
Separately, Jacques Saadé had created CMA in 1978 as an intra-Mediterranean liner service operator, based in Marseille. In 1996, CGM was privatized and sold to Compagnie Maritime d'Affrètement (CMA) to form CMA CGM.
In 1998 the combined company purchased Australian National Line.
In September 2005, CMA CGM acquired its French rival Delmas based in Le Havre from the Bolloré Group for €600 million. The acquisition was completed in early January 5, 2006. The resulting corporation became the third largest container company in the world behind the Danish Maersk and the Swiss Mediterranean Shipping Company
In May 2007, a consortium represented by CMA CGM completed its acquisition of Compagnie Marocaine de Navigation (Comanav) for a sum of €200 million. In July 2007, CMA CGM acquired Cheng Lie Navigation Corp. (CNC Line), Intra-Asia container line based in Taiwan.
In 2009, CMA CGM acquired the Port of Latakia in Syria under a consortium comprising CMA CGM/Terminal Link and Souria Holding, a Syrian limited liability company.
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In 2014, CMA CGM signs the Ocean Three agreements. The group strengthens its offer by signing major agreements on the biggest worldwide maritime trades with CSCL and UASC.
In April 2015, the group acquired a strategic stake in LCL Logistix, a logistics firm in India, via its subsidiary CMA CGM LOG. In December 2015, CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin called at the Port of Los Angeles and thus became the largest vessel ever to call the United States. The container-ship, 1,300 ft (400 m) long and 177 ft (54 m) wide, was inaugurated in Port of Long Beach on February 19.
In July 2016 CMA CGM finalized its acquisition of Singapore-based NOL (Neptune Orient Lines) and its container line APL (American President Lines) after an all-cash offer of US$2.4 billion. The takeover is CMA CGM's largest acquisition and the purchase added 12 percent market share to the CMA CGM group. The Singapore Exchange Securities Trading suspended trading of NOL shares at the end of the offer.
In June 2017, CMA CGM acquire Mercosul Line, a Brazilian shipping company specialized in multimodal door-to-door container transportation and logistics. In October 2018, CMA CGM finalized the acquisition of Finland-based container-transportation and logistics company Containerships.
In April 2019, CMA CGM completed its public tender offer to acquire CEVA Logistics. With this acquisition, the CMA CGM Group becomes 110,000 people strong with more than $30.3 billion in revenue. CEVA operational center is transferred in Marseille, France, where is located the Head Office of the CMA CGM Group. In September 2019, the world's first LNG-powered container ship is launched.
In March 2020, Rodolphe Saadé announced that CMA CGM was offering 200,000 FFP2 protective masks to France Health Agency to fight against the COVID-19 virus. In February 2021, CMA CGM Group completes its logistics offer by creating a new division dedicated to air freight: CMA CGM Air Cargo. With its four Airbus A330-200F cargo aircraft, this airfreight division links Europe to North America. The first flight from Liège to Chicago marks the debut of commercial operations.
In September 2021, CMA CGM announced a partnership with fellow Breton-based operator Brittany Ferries. The partnership involves a €25 million investment, plus a CMA CGM representative joining Brittany Ferries' supervisory board.
In May 2022, CMA CGM signed a strategic partnership with Air France-KLM to develop their air cargo capacities together. However, this partnership, implemented in April 2023, was terminated by mutual agreement in January 2024 without change in the 9% stake acquired by CMA CGM in the Franco-Dutch airline group.
In January 2024, CMA CGM made a takeover offer for Wincanton plc. In March 2024 CMA CGM withdrew the offer.
In January 2026, CMA CGM agreed to form a $10 billion joint venture with Stonepeak called United Ports. Upon completion, CMA CGM will own 75% of the venture and will seek to accelerate investments in US based ports. In the same month intermodal container operations of Freightliner in the United Kingdom were acquired (Freightliner operations in other countries remaining with their previous owner).
From Wikipedia’s article on CMA CGM, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5