CMA CGM makes Chinese port move

CMA CGM makes Chinese port move

CMA CGM will make its first investment in the Chinese port sector after agreeing to partner in the construction and management of a deepwater container terminal in the Southeast Coast Port of Haicang at Xiamen.

   The French carrier said it is also planning further port investments in Tianjin in North China and Shanghai.

Jacques R. Saad'

   CMA CGM today signed a strategic cooperation agreement for the development of the Xiamen port with Hong Kong-based infrastructure firm New World Services Holding Ltd. (NWS) and the Municipality of Xiamen. The signing ceremony was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in the presence of the French and Chinese presidents, Nicolas Sarkozy and Hu Jintao.

   The Marseilles-based ocean carrier said it will soon finalize the project with NWS and Xiamen Haicang Investment General Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Xiamen Haicang District Government, so as to be operational in 2009.

   CMA CGM, the world’s third-largest container line, has been present in China since 1992 and offers 30 weekly maritime services from China. It expects to move about 10 percent of China’s deep sea exports this year, or about 2.5 million TEUs. In 2006, it acquired an 8 percent share in China Rail Intermodal, a $1.6 billion project to develop a network of 18 railway container stations, covering the entire Chinese territory.

   “Thanks to this new terminal, CMA CGM container ships will benefit from a better quality of service in Xiamen, which will become a transshipment hub for the group in South China, allowing lines to rationalize their operations in the area. The group also wishes to invest in the ports of Tianjin and Shanghai/Yangshen,” said Jacques R. Saad', CMA CGM's chairman and founder.

   Hong Kong’s NWS already holds a 50 percent interest of Xiamen New World Xiangyu Terminals Co. Ltd., which started operations in April 1997 and has an annual handling capacity of one million TEUs. Henry Cheng, chairman of NWS, said of the deal: 'Xiamen is a core city located at the economic zone on the West Coast of the Straits, and leveraging on the fine reputations of the parties, we are confident to turn Xiamen port into an international transshipment hub, and to generate considerable contributions for the group.'

   NWS said that it would continue to look for other port opportunities in Mainland China.