CMA CGM to cut costs

CMA CGM signs operating partnership with Mediterranean Shipping Company

The Lebanese-owned container shipping group CMA CGM has signed an operating partnership with the Swiss-Italian Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). MSC is the world’s second largest container shipping company.

The partnership will enable the two companies to increase the number of ports of call and frequency of sailings.

France-based CMA CGM also said that it will implement a cost reduction plan to save $400 million per annum. The firm said that it will take measures that include rationalizing lines and capacity, renegotiating vessel charter rates, and implementing technical solutions to improve vessel fuel efficiency.

CMA CGM is the third largest shipping firm globally (according to 2009 estimates). It declared net profits of $13.2 million in the first nine months of 2011. Its revenues were $11.1 billion in the first nine months of 2011, up by around five percent from the same period last year.