As a global player in sea, land, air, and logistics solutions, CMA CGM Group serves more than 420 ports worldwide with a vast fleet of vessels. The Group is on a mission to contribute to sustainable development on a global scale as it works to establish balanced international trade which focuses on developing the plants on both an economic and social level. Consequently, with a key focus on energy transition in the shipping industry, CMA CGM continues to innovate its offerings to provide its customers with comprehensive and increasingly efficient shipping solutions and lines serving international markets.
Established in 1978, CMA CGM began as a company that focused on providing a long-term strategic vision for the shipping industry driven by expertise and passion for the industry. Today, with these same values, CMA CGM continues to expand to be a leader in its industry and continues its perpetual quest for excellence whilst remaining committed to environmental development. The Group is now present in 160 countries across its global network with more than 400 offices and 750 warehouses worldwide. Just last year, the Group transported 21.7 million TEU containers and its subsidiary CEVA Logistics transported 552,000 tonnes of air cargo and more than 22 shipments of inland freight.
A key area of development for CMA CGM in recent years is in Africa, where in 2022 the company’s expansive network of offices and agencies across the sub-Saharan region delivered 79,000 TEUs of cargo. Thanks to the expansive team of skilled professionals, CMA CGM continues to utilise its years of experience to ensure the efficient and safe delivery of its customers’ cargo by providing free deposit for most countries and easy transmit formalities to landlocked countries.
Behind CMA CGM are 5 pillars which have helped to establish the company as a global player in the industry, to help it achieve the perfect balance of interaction between each of these pillars and the foundation of its growth towards sustainable development. The first of these pillars is pursuing maritime development in which it uses innovation to make ships and port terminals more efficient than ever. A key part of this is enhancing customer satisfaction by adapting its capacity to help manage their demands and provide them with the top-quality care and service that the company is known for. Therefore, across CMA CGM’s solutions, it provides solutions which leverage the synergies between its shipping services and the main intercontinental routes and its revamped inter-regional lines.
The second, and arguably the largest pillar of its operations, is in offering logistics solutions. These solutions work between shipping and logistics and are crucially a key part of the CMA CGM Group’s identity. Under the Group is CEVA Logistics which is a global player in logistics which provides the Group with air freight services. Along with this, CMA CGM provides a range of end-to-end transport solutions for all types of goods, overland and air freight services in its know-how in contract logistics and warehousing. These logistics solutions cover a vast network which enables the Group to deliver an intermodal approach which is known for its efficiency in meeting its customers’ transportation needs.
The CMA CGM Air Cargo Division has been scaling up its transport and logistics which meet the growing demand for new, comprehensive, fast, and agile solutions. The division has 17 freighter destinations and 115 long-haul wide-body vessel destinations at key hubs in the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) and Amsterdam AMS) with an extensive network and enhanced schedule. In response to the demand for air freight, the division created a long-term strategic partnership with Air France KLM Martinair Cargo which provides high-quality airfreight services worldwide and continues to expand the global reach of CMA CGM.
The third pillar is working towards accelerating innovation and digitalization. CMA CGM uses research and development, IoT, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology at the heart of its innovation process to accelerate the digital transformation of the industry. With the smart development of the industry through its logistics solutions, CMA CGM is hoping to develop the industry for the future and through the roll-out of intuitive digital tools which will help the Group and the industry deliver a smoother user experience for both its staff and customers. This user experience is also hoped to bring a shorter-term return on investment for the company and its customers.
The fourth pillar is key to the ethos of CMA CGM, ensuring that the company’s development, operations, and services remain respectful of the planet and its people. This key focus to contribute to a more balanced and inclusive globalisation which is respectful of the natural environment is central to the Group’s mission. One way that CMA CGM is implementing these sustainable goals is by moving the company towards energy solutions that include liquified natural gas (LNG), biomethane and biofuel. These energy resources hope to reduce the environmental impact of the maritime transport and logistics industry. An overarching goal for CMA CGM is to move the company’s operations to be carbon neutral by 2050, which highlights its key commitment to developing the industry whilst protecting the planet from further harm.
The final key pillar of the group is supporting and enriching the lives of its employees. It’s clear that for any company to run smoothly it must focus on developing and providing wellbeing support to its staff. For CMA CGM, the company has 155,000 employees across its global network, and it is these people who are at the heart of ensuring that the Group’s operations remain a leader in the industry. Therefore, as its people are the Group’s biggest asset, CMA CGM ensures the safety of its staff throughout every aspect of its operations and implements wellbeing and inclusive approaches to support the well-being of its staff. Another way they are implementing development is through tailored training programs which it makes available to its staff through the CMA CGM Academy.
These pillars are why the company has such a vast presence in the international shipping industry, and as such, also plays a pivotal role in many global economies. As we have seen, CMA CGM remains committed throughout every aspect of its operations to fostering a stable and reliable shipping and logistics service which serves its customers and the planet. It aims to reinvent the transport and logistics solutions industry and take on every operation with a bold strive to go above and beyond for its clients which continues to place CMA CGM as a fundamental player in the industry and ultimately its ongoing development.
CMA CGM offers one of the largest shipping networks in the world with routes spanning the globe serviced by its environmentally friendly, high-performance ships which provide value-added solutions to protect, track and optimize the shipping of goods. With more than 40 years of experience in deep-sea shipping as well as short-haul shipping lines, CMA CGM has services suited to every customer to provide solutions ranging from fleet, port infrastructure or services through one of its specialist subsidiaries. Consequently, the company serves 420 trading ports across the globe.
In terms of cargo shipping, CMA CGM is well equipped to transport a range of mediums from liquid or perishable cargo, all the way to the shipping of heavy goods such as yachts and industrial machinery. These diverse cargo shipping offerings allow CMA CGM to meet the needs of its clients and offer tailor-made solutions and services which are perfectly suited to the cargo and its need for transport. The Group also has Eagle Express which operates shipping between China and the United States for emergency cargo.
In addition, CMA CGM offers roll-on roll-off (RORO) services to a broad range of intra-Mediterranean services to North Africa which helps to reduce loading and unloading times to make shipping simpler and faster. For dry goods, CMA CGM’s containers can meet any needs as they provide ISO 1496, 6343 and Convention for Safe Container (CSC) criteria to help ship products of any type in any type of packing to anywhere in the world. Tailor-made solutions help keep products moving and so the company is a first choice for many customers as they are ready to provide the perfect transportation environment and needs for such a vast array of products. Therefore, to ensure that these services remain efficient and productive, CMA CGM works with ship chandlers across the globe who facilitate its vessels with all the necessary equipment and materials. Consequently, ship chandler companies are essential to maintaining the speed and reputation of CMA CGM’s shipping service operations to keep cargo moving towards end markets.
Consequently, the shipping line network of CMA CGM as they are able to facilitate such a diverse range of shipping and cargo solutions means that they continue to add value to its operations. Executive Vice President for Shipping Lines at CMA CGM, Olivier Nivoix outlines that ‘By improving our services and offering you our range of new added-value solutions, we continue to go beyond regular business relations by bringing you an experience that meets your needs and expectations to build with you the shipping of tomorrow’. Nivoix’s comments highlight that, unlike many other shipping companies, CMA CGM is such a giant company that it can offer solutions that meet the needs of its customers and provide comprehensive shipping and cargo solutions which develop the industry and continue to help these customers’ businesses thrive.
However, CMA CGM has gone one step further and has developed a dedicated door-to-door service called CMA-CGM Intermodal which combines train, barge, and truck, services to its existing shipping services. This is available all over the world and draws on the full strength of its land-based infrastructure to offer the best intermodal freight transport services to its customers. These services are secure and reliable and allow freight to be transported anywhere in the world, including to and from landlocked countries.
These services continue to be developed across Africa, as well as Asia, Latin America, Europe, India, the Middle East, North America, and Asia-Pacific. However, with these intermodal freight services, CMA CGM is aware of the possible climate change implications that this type of shipping may cause. Therefore, the company has implemented dedicated trains and barges to reduce its carbon footprint, optimize itineraries to limit fuel consumption, and has given priority to the most environmentally friendly modes of transport.
This focus on sustainability is why the company remains such a key player not just in the freight, shipping, and logistics industry, but in moving global companies to see how the implementation of sustainable measures is possible. This development towards sustainability was recently announced to have seen a range of private and public stakeholders investing in decarbonizing the shipping industry. CMA CGM, along with these stakeholders, are calling in favour of the decarbonisation of maritime transport with the ambition of implementing the IMO GHG Strategy.
This strategy is hoping to establish new building standards that support the energy transition in the maritime industry and push the sector towards achieving its goal of Net Zero by 2050. The coming together of these leaders highlights the readiness of the industry to provide a robust regulatory framework to achieve crucial decarbonisation. This move will also help to concrete the government’s commitments to provide regulatory and financial support to the shipping industry initiatives to enable and enhance decarbonisation.
Overall, CMA CGM has spent the last 45 years leading the logistics solutions industry on a global scale. Its keen focus is on moving the global shipping, cargo, and logistics industry towards sustainable development. With tailor-made logistics solutions covering inland, port, and air logistics services the global company continues to be a leading player in international logistics markets. As the company continues to lead the industry for its logistics solutions, we look forward to seeing how it moves the sector towards continued sustainable development to meet the global demand for carbon neutrality.
