Container ship owners are used to navigating in the fog and depending on the more or less bad currents of global trade, geopolitical hazards and the management of their fleet. After two exceptional years, in 2021 and 2022, they are returning to the throes of maritime trade, even if the situation is different from that of the chaotic 2010-2020 decade or the health crisis.
Unsurprisingly, the French CMA CGM published, Friday February 23, 2023 results down sharply compared to 2022. After a net profit close to zero in the fourth quarter, the profit fell to 3.6 billion dollars (3.3 Billions of Euro’s). Very far from the 24.9 billion announced a year earlier, which had made it the most profitable French company, ahead of TotalEnergies. The fourth quarter was even in the red. If the volumes transported remained stable, at 21.8 million twenty-foot equivalent “boxes” (TEU), turnover fell to $47 billion (−36.9%).
Rodolphe Saadé, CEO of the group, believes that “performance remains solid”, despite the normalization of the sector, after the two years of recovery from Covid-19. In the history of container transport, such profits remain significant, especially since European shipowners only pay 2% tax on profits (excluding logistics and port activities). Two trends weighed on demand for container ships: significant inventory reductions, particularly in the United States, and a rebalancing of consumption in favor of services and to the detriment of manufactured goods.
“Standardization context”
Despite this “standardization context”the group “will continue to invest in its transformation”, indicates Mr. Saadé. For several years, it has reinvested in logistics, with the acquisition currently being finalized of Bolloré Logistics, to enter the Top 5 worldwide in the transport and logistics sector. CMA CGM has also acquired port terminals (Los Angeles, New York, etc.) and will spend $15 billion over the period 2020-2027 for 120 ships powered by liquefied natural gas or methanol, which emit less CO2 and fine particles.
The results of the Marseille giant, the world’s third largest shipowner, are close to those of the Danish AP Moller-Maersk ($3.8 billion), number two in the sector behind the Italian-Swiss MSC of the Aponte family, which does not publish its results. The Copenhagen group is more forthcoming than its two competitors on the current situation. And its CEO, Vincent Clerc, expects difficulties in 2024, especially linked to the entry into service of new ships.
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