APL, CNC Line to consolidate intra-Asia business

The two CMA CGM subsidiaries will “shore up our relevance in the economically thriving Asia through the CNC brand ahead.”

   APL said it will consolidate all its intra-Asia business under the Cheng Lie Navigation Company or CNC brand to be operated from Singapore, retaining both sales networks and all sales channels. The APL brand will be maintained in other trade lanes where APL trades.  Both companies are part of France’s CMA CGM Group.
   Founded in 1971, Cheng Lie Navigation Company (CNC) became one of Taiwan’s leading Intra-Asia carriers before it was purchased by CMA CGM in 2007. APL, which was founded 170 years ago in the U.S., was acquired by Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines in 1997, and later sold to CMA CGM in 2016.
   A spokesperson for APL said both the APL and CNC brands will be operated by APL from Singapore and that the “core functions of trade and pricing; network planning and alliance; as well as sales and operations for the CNC brand have moved to Singapore.”
   “With complementary market footprints, the combined portfolio of services is set to shore up our relevance in the economically thriving Asia through the CNC brand ahead,” said Nicolas Sartini, APL chief executive officer.
   Sartini, is leaving APL at the end of year to become chief operating officer of the logistics company CEVA. In November, CMA CMA said it would make a tender offer for CEVA shares. Sartini will be succeeded by Lars Kastrup as APL’s CEO on January 1, 2019. Currently executive vice president assets (terminals, vessels and containers) of the CMA CGM Group, Kastrup was president of APL USA between August 2016 and August 2017.
   Today there are 15 APL and 50 CNC weekly services that serve the key markets from North Asia to Southeast Asia. APL said the two networks will complement each other and create “one of the most comprehensive networks in Intra-Asia.”
   It said “CNC has a significant presence across Asia, including Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.”
   Sartini said, “We have ambitious volume targets and market development plans for intra-Asia that we will seek organically and via strategic acquisitions. As the intra-Asia specialist, we will continue to customize our portfolio of services according to shippers’ demand and where the markets will shift tomorrow.”