Image: Containerships
CMA CGM has announced that it plans to acquire of the Finnish intra-European container shipping company Containerships.
Founded in 1966, Containerships is an Intra-European Shortsea specialist with a strong presence in the Baltic market, Russia, Northern Europe, North Africa and Turkey.
Container Finance’s entire shipping, harbour and terminal holdings, including Containerships, will become part of CMA CGM Group, which owns the world's third largest fleet of containerships and has a revenue of US$ 20.8 billion.
Containerships has stated that it expects the restructuring to take three to six months after the transaction, which remains subject to approval by the European competition authorities.
With a workforce of 560 people, Containerships also offers logistics solutions by ship, truck, rail and barges.
Containerships’ network, which will expand further when four LNG-fueled vessels join its fleet between August 2018 and January 2019 as part of its environmentally-friendly LNG strategy, will complement CMA CGM and its affiliate MacAndrews’ service offering in North Europe and the Mediterranean.
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CMA CGM Group is already present on the intra-regional market through its subsidiaries.
These are CNC in Intra Asia, Mercosul — one of the leading players in Brazil’s domestic container shipping market, Sofrana — a key player in the Pacific Islands regional maritime trade, and MacAndrews in Europe.
A CMA CGM statement said: “The acquisition of Containerships will strengthen even more the development strategy implemented by Rodolphe Saadé, CMA CGM Group’s Chairman and CEO, aimed at densifying the Group’s regional network.”
Containerships stated: “At present, the restructuring does not have any impacts on Containerships’ brand or operations.
“Company continues committed to provide industry’s best customer experience as well as to further develop its routes and services.”
