Cargo Business Newswire

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

CMA CGM reports modest Q1 profit, appoints chairman's son to #2 spot

French shipping giant CMA CGM reported first quarter profits of $97 million, a 1.2 percent increase year-over-year.

The company also announced that Rodolphe Saadé, the son of Chairman Jacques R. Saadé, has been appointed as vice-chairman executive officer of CGA CGM, and is now second in command. The younger Saadé, 44, will ascend to chairman when his father decides to retire, the statement said.

Revenues for the first quarter grew 2.7 percent to $3.94 billion, the report noted, and container volumes grew 5.8 percent in the first quarter to 2.8 million TEUs.

CMA CGM said it had limited the drop in average freight rates to 2.9 percent, compared to the average drop, according to the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index, of 8.6 percent.

The company said that after "a dip" at the beginning of the second quarter 2014, "freight rates are now back at supportive levels, but should nevertheless remain volatile."