CMA CGM Vice Chairman Rodolphe Saadé calls deal a “major new agreement.”
The ocean liner carriers CMA CGM and Hamburg Süd said Thursday they will expand existing cooperation between the two companies, starting new services and revamping others.
Rodolphe Saadé, CMA CGM vice chairman, said the two lines were announcing “a major new agreement with a valuable partner. This partnership reinforces the group’s position in South and North America, reflecting our ambitions in this rapidly growing area and giving us the means to accelerate our development.”
In addition to several specific agreements announced today, the two carriers “have agreed to explore other cooperation opportunities when they arise,” according to a joint statement.
“We value the partnership with CMA CGM and are excited about the new products which we are jointly offering to the market,” said Ottmar Gast, Hamburg Süd’s chief executive officer.
Marseilles-based CMA CGM is the third largest container carrier, with approximately 260 owned and chartered ships and 1,323,893 TEUs of capacity deployed on direct region-to-region services, while Hamburg-based Hamburg Süd is the 12th largest carrier, with 84 ships and 423,073 TEUs of deployed capacity, according to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting.
The two carriers also announced the following future developments.
In mid-May, subject to approval by the Federal Maritime Commission, they plan to start a new pendulum service which will connect Asia, the Caribbean, the United States East Coast and North Europe, together with United Arab Shipping Company for the transatlantic side. CMA CGM and UASC, along with China Shipping are the members of the Ocean Three alliance. The two carriers said details on the new pendulum service will be made available soon, adding it will complement one connecting Asia with United States East Coast via the Suez Canal.
In July, along with other unidentified partners, they plan to revamp services between Asia and both East and West Coast of South America. Again, the two companies said details on new service configurations are being finalized and will be available shortly.
Since mid-January, Hamburg Süd has been taking slots between Asia and the Caribbean on CMA CGM’s PEX 2 service, as well as on the Brazex service, which provides it with a connection to Manaus from the Caribbean in addition to existing joint services between North Europe and both East and West Coasts of South America.
“The enhanced cooperation allows both lines to provide the market with cost efficient, innovative new products which will be best in class as far as scope, frequency and fast transit times are concerned,” CMA CGM and Hamburg Süd said.
According to ocean schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting, currently there are 18 liner services with 140 vessels on which both CMA CGM and Hamburg Sud participate with a combined average weekly capacity of just over 100,000 TEUs. Four of the 18 strings have ships with at least one ship from each of the two carriers, seven have at least one ship provided by Hamburg Sud, and one has at least one ship provided by CMA CGM. Six of the 18 loops, including the three Ocean 3 Alliance services, do not utilize any vessels from either carrier.
Lars Jensen, chief executive officer and partner of SeaIntel Consulting, said in the announcement by the two carriers, “The South America trades which are mentioned are outside Ocean Three scope. The pendulum service sounds interesting indeed, but again it lists only UASC and CMA CGM and not China Shipping, hence does not quite sound fully like an Ocean Three approach”
Dirk Visser, senior shipping consultant at Dynamar, said the CMA CGM agreement with Hamburg Sud appears to be a north-south accord “focusing on, in part, alternative ways to serve the Caribbean and South America (east and west), rather than a specific east-west action.
“It is interesting to see that the carriers may be underway to a kind of a hybrid solution of two, perhaps more, pendulum type services with both East-West and North-South elements,” he added.
CMA CGM and Hamburg Süd announce plans for further cooperation
