Maersk rival CMA CGM sees 2011 profitable

Monday, 1 August 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

CEO sees CMA CGM staying in black in 2011 — Lloyd’s List
Says will not follow Maersk in ordering 18,000 TEU ships

COPENHAGEN (Reuters): French privately held shipping company CMA CGM expects to stay in the black this year despite pressure on freight rates and is preparing to resume investing in new vessels, shipping newspaper Lloyd’s List said.

CMA CGM is the world’s third largest container shipping line after Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk and privately owned Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Company.

“I will not say we are doing very well because it is not like 2010, that was a marvellous year, but 2011 will be positive,” CMA CGM Chief Executive Jacques Saade told the newspaper in an interview.

Some analysts are forecasting that the container shipping industry’s combined results will be negative in 2011 as supply growth outpaces demand, Lloyd’s List said.

Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk is due to report first-half results on 17 August.

CMA CGM is pushing ahead with its fleet upgrade programme, Lloyd’s List said.

The company is close to signing a deal for eight 8,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) ships to be built and financed in China, with CMA CGM pressing for 2013 delivery, the paper said.

Saade said CMA CGM would not follow Maersk Line by building 18,000 TEU ships, but that 16,000 TEU would be the upper limit and CMA CGM is to take delivery of six ships of that size, Lloyd’s List said.