CMA CGM ACQUIRES SHORT SEA ACTIVITIES OF ANDREW WEIR

CMA CGM ACQUIRES SHORT SEA ACTIVITIES OF ANDREW WEIR

   CMA CGM is acquiring the short sea container shipping activities of the U.K.-based Andrew Weir Shipping group.

   The takeover also marks the withdrawal from the container shipping market of Andrew Weir, which also sold its deep sea container shipping arm to Hamburg Sud a week ago.

   For CMA CGM, the purchase of Andrew Weir’s MacAndrews short sea business, centered mainly on the Iberia/north Europe container trade, will represent an expansion of its short sea activities. CMA CGM has some feeder and short sea activities in the Mediterranean, the Baltic sea and along the western European coast.

   “We envisage to expand the activity of MacAndrews in the European short sea liner (trade) and, at a later stage, go beyond this horizon,” said Farid T. Salem, group managing director of CMA CGM.

   MacAndrews & Co., based in London, will be run as a separate company within the CMA CGM group. Like Australia-based ANL, another wholly-owned subsidiary, MacAndrews will have its own staff, office and managing director, CMA CGM said.

   A spokesman for Andrew Weir said that, following the sale, the company will continue to be involved in ship management, shipowning, the provision of services to the British Ministry of Defence, and the operation of Bank Line. Bank Line is a multipurpose service between Europe and South Pacific islands.

   During the month of November, three shipping companies — Andrew Weir, Trans-Pacific Lines and Tecmarine — have decided to leave, or sell out of, the container shipping business.