FRENCH shipping giant CMA CGM has reported a 9.6 per cent year-on-year increase in throughput for the second quarter of 2018 as volumes rose to 5.19 million TEU, reflecting the strength of the Ocean Alliance.
The carrier attributed the growth to the strength of Transpacific and Asia/Gulf lines, as well as services to and from South America, London's Container Management reported.
Chairman and CEO of the CMA CGM Group, Rodolphe Saade, said: 'The strong volume growth demonstrates our commercial strength and the quality of our service offering.'
CMA CGM expanded its fleet capacity by 11.5 per cent to 2.6 million TEU with the addition of the CMA CGM Jean Mermoz, a 20,600 TEU container ship designed to operate on the Asia-Europe trades and an Ice-Class vessel with reinforced hulls enabling it to operate on the Baltic delivery routes.
The company also increased its number of vessels by 10.2 per cent to 509 vessels and developed its services with the launch of the Ocean Alliance Day 2 product with 41 East-West services including Asia-North America, Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean.
With the acquisition of the Finnish intra-European market specialist Containerships expected to close before the end of the year, CMA CGM plans to strengthen its offering in the intra-regional trades. Containerships offers logistics solutions by ship, truck and barges and will take delivery of four LNG-fuelled vessels with a 1,120 TEU capacity later this year.
The company has acquired a stake of approximately 25 per cent in CEVA Logistics and it hopes that cooperation projects between the two groups will allow CMA CGM to offer its customers high added value solutions throughout the logistics chain.
Mr Saade added: 'The acquisition of a 25 per cent stake in CEVA is an important step in our strategy to complement our transport offering with logistics services. We are confident for the second half of the year. We anticipate an improved operating margin thanks to the rise in freight rates and sustained volumes.'
Driven by the company's volume growth, revenue increased 7.4 per cent to US$5.7 million and the consolidated net income group share amounted to US$22.7 million, positively impacted by the rise of the US dollar versus the Euro.
Over the quarter, the company recorded a core earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of US$67.1 million and a core EBIT margin of 1.2 per cent.
The EBIT margin reflects a 27.7 per cent increase in bunker costs, and CMA CGM said it 'intends to pursue the cost reduction initiatives announced upon the release of its first quarter results to improve its operational and financial performance.'
The carrier attributed the growth to the strength of Transpacific and Asia/Gulf lines, as well as services to and from South America, London's Container Management reported.
Chairman and CEO of the CMA CGM Group, Rodolphe Saade, said: 'The strong volume growth demonstrates our commercial strength and the quality of our service offering.'
CMA CGM expanded its fleet capacity by 11.5 per cent to 2.6 million TEU with the addition of the CMA CGM Jean Mermoz, a 20,600 TEU container ship designed to operate on the Asia-Europe trades and an Ice-Class vessel with reinforced hulls enabling it to operate on the Baltic delivery routes.
The company also increased its number of vessels by 10.2 per cent to 509 vessels and developed its services with the launch of the Ocean Alliance Day 2 product with 41 East-West services including Asia-North America, Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean.
With the acquisition of the Finnish intra-European market specialist Containerships expected to close before the end of the year, CMA CGM plans to strengthen its offering in the intra-regional trades. Containerships offers logistics solutions by ship, truck and barges and will take delivery of four LNG-fuelled vessels with a 1,120 TEU capacity later this year.
The company has acquired a stake of approximately 25 per cent in CEVA Logistics and it hopes that cooperation projects between the two groups will allow CMA CGM to offer its customers high added value solutions throughout the logistics chain.
Mr Saade added: 'The acquisition of a 25 per cent stake in CEVA is an important step in our strategy to complement our transport offering with logistics services. We are confident for the second half of the year. We anticipate an improved operating margin thanks to the rise in freight rates and sustained volumes.'
Driven by the company's volume growth, revenue increased 7.4 per cent to US$5.7 million and the consolidated net income group share amounted to US$22.7 million, positively impacted by the rise of the US dollar versus the Euro.
Over the quarter, the company recorded a core earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of US$67.1 million and a core EBIT margin of 1.2 per cent.
The EBIT margin reflects a 27.7 per cent increase in bunker costs, and CMA CGM said it 'intends to pursue the cost reduction initiatives announced upon the release of its first quarter results to improve its operational and financial performance.'