CMA CGM

What it is

CMA CGM (Compagnie Maritime d'Affrètement Compagnie Générale Maritime) is a French container shipping and logistics conglomerate headquartered in the CMA CGM Tower in Marseille. It is the world's third-largest container carrier by capacity, operating more than 700 vessels across 250 shipping services. The group serves 420 of the world's 521 commercial ports across 177 countries. Through its subsidiary CEVA Logistics, it also operates approximately 1,000 warehouses and an air freight division. As of early 2026, the group employs roughly 160,000 people globally, making it the largest private employer in Marseille.

History

The company's lineage traces to 1855, when the Compagnie Générale Maritime (CGM) was founded as a French state shipping line. Jacques Saadé, a Lebanese-French entrepreneur, founded the Compagnie Maritime d'Affrètement (CMA) in Marseille in 1978 with a single vessel running between Europe and the Middle East. When France privatized CGM in 1996, Saadé purchased it and merged the two companies into CMA CGM. The group then expanded through acquisitions: Australian National Line (ANL) in 1998; Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) and its APL brand for approximately US$2.4 billion in 2015; and CEVA Logistics for approximately US$1.7 billion in 2019. Rodolphe Saadé, Jacques's son, became chairman and CEO in November 2017; Jacques died in 2018. In early 2024, Rodolphe Saadé added Bolloré Logistics (the dominant logistics network across French-speaking Africa) for €4.8 billion, and acquired French broadcaster Altice Média, which includes BFM TV and RMC, for €1.55 billion through a personal holding company.

Current state

For full year 2025, CMA CGM reported group revenue of US$54.4 billion, down 2% from 2024, with container shipping revenue of US$34.3 billion and EBITDA of US$10.6 billion at a 19.4% margin. The group transported 24.2 million TEUs in 2025, up 2.8%. As of early July 2026, CMA CGM remains on full Cape of Good Hope routing for Asia-Europe services. The group was the last major carrier to exit the Red Sea, continuing transits with French naval escort through January 2024 while peers had already diverted. A missile strike on the chartered vessel Koi on February 1, 2024 ended that position; CMA CGM rerouted all services via the Cape from that date. The Suez Canal route remained effectively closed to the group through mid-2026, with a brief trial return in late 2025 paused again in April 2026 as tensions resurfaced. The direct rate impact of Cape rerouting is tracked in 双重咽喉要道关闭推动集装箱运费大幅攀升.

Relationships

CMA CGM anchors the Ocean Alliance alongside China's COSCO, Taiwan's Evergreen, and OOCL, a grouping that held approximately 28.4% of global container capacity in 2025. CMA CGM's individual share sits at roughly 12-13%, behind MSC (Geneva, ~20%) and Denmark's Maersk (~14%). The group's fleet orderbook of approximately 1.9 million TEU as of early 2026 was the largest in the industry, exceeding Maersk's roughly 0.8 million TEU, a gap that may shift carrier rankings through 2028. For the broader oligopoly structure and rate dynamics, see the container freight market backgrounder and spot rate tracker.

What to watch

• CMA CGM's orderbook delivery through 2028: new vessel capacity arriving into a still-disrupted market amplifies the rate cycle; capacity arriving into a normalized market risks a prolonged glut that would compress margins across the sector.
• The timing of a permanent Red Sea return: the group has twice moved toward Suez and retreated; its decision will serve as a signal for the wider industry and insurers.
• Integration of Bolloré Logistics across French-speaking Africa, a multi-year process with significant regulatory and reputational exposure in a region undergoing political instability.
• Whether Rodolphe Saadé's media investments create governance scrutiny of the group's operational and political positioning, particularly in France's industrial-policy debates.