[150621.EN.SEA] CMA CGM Q1 Profit Up 2,000pc To US$2.1 As Sales Soar 50pc

 

FRENCH shipping giant CMA CGM, the world's No 3 ocean carrier, reported a 2,000 per cent year-on-year first quarter net profit increase to US$2.1 billion, drawn on revenues of $10.7 billion, up 50 per cent.

EBITDA came in at $3.2 billion, representing an EBITDA margin of 29.7 per cent versus 13.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2020. Volumes on the quarter were up 10.7 per cent from first quarter 2020 to 5.5 million TEU.

CMA CGM continued to make investments to strengthen and upgrade assets with 22 vessels ordered, including 12 powered by liquefied natural gas. The company also confirmed the deployment of six new LNG-powered 15,000-TEU vessels between China and the US west coast by the end of 2022, the first of which will join the fleet in October.

By the end of 2024, CMA CGM will operate a fleet of 44 LNG-powered vessels, the largest in the shipping industry.

Said CMA CGM chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saade said: "We have expanded our fleet, most notably with the addition of new LNG-powered 23,000 TEU vessels. We have also created a new air freight division with four Airbus A330-200 full-freighters, thereby strengthening our range of agile solutions.

"In this context, the complementarity between our maritime transport offer and the logistics solutions offered by our subsidiary CEVA Logistics has proven particularly relevant," said Mr Saade.

"Sustained demand for the transportation of consumer goods is expected to continue throughout the year. CMA CGM will continue to develop its solutions for its customers, while maintaining its initiatives in support of the energy transition of the transport and logistics industry," he said.

Looking ahead, CMA CGM sees international trade remaining "brisk" through the second half.

"The current environment should allow the group to achieve at least the same results in the second quarter of 2021, as it did in the first," CMA CGM said.

Source : HKSG / Photo : CMA CGM.