CMA CGM profit up 58%

France's CMA CGM, the world's third-largest container line, achieved a 58 percent jump in net income last year to $966 million, compared to $611 million in 2006.

The Marseilles-based group's annual revenue increased 40 percent to $11.8 billion, of which it said 35 percent was down to organic growth.

The group -- comprising CMA CGM, ANL, Delmas, OTAL, and last year's niche carrier acquisitions, Cheng Lie Navigation, Comanav, and U.S. Lines -- carried a total of 7.68 million TEUs, up 29 percent over 2006 and considerably above the 11.4 percent global market growth stated by Drewry Shipping Consultants.

At the end of last year, the group's vessel fleet stood at 384 ships -- 98 more than 2006 -- with an aggregate container capacity of 913,259 TEUs, up 31 percent. Forty-two services, operated independently or jointly, were launched last year. The network additions included 11 services departing from Asia to the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf, the United States, Latin America, Africa and Australia, and 21 loops targeting the intra-Asia market.

Door-to-door business, comprising rail, inland waterway and trucking operations, experienced 41 percent volume growth, the company said.

CMA CGM also added to its roster of container terminal assets by acquiring stakes in sites in Houston, Casablanca and Tangier in Morocco, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Xiamen in China, Ca?Mep in Vietnam, Damietta in Egypt, and Busan, Korea.

Saade  

We are very satisfied with our 2007 results, said Jacques R. Saad? CMA CGM's chairman and founder. We will continue our 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.

Source: American Shipper