Rodolphe Saadé Takes Chairmanship at CMA CGM

French shipping major CMA CGM has made a new step in group governance as it appointed Rodolphe Saadé to the position of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the company.

CMA CGM’s Board of Directors met on November 24 to decide the change in governance of the group. In accordance with the wish of Jacques Saadé and after having reunited the positions of CEO and Chairman of the Board, the board has decided to appoint Rodolphe Saadé to the new position.

“To prepare the future, last February 7 I appointed Rodolphe Saadé to the position of Chief Executive Officer. His strategy has delivered very good operational and financial results,” Jacques Saadé said, adding that this is why he has decided “to entrust to Rodolphe the chairmanship of the group in addition to his current responsibilities as CEO.”

“My father’s decision is an historic one for our group which became a key global player under his chairmanship,” Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO of the CMA CGM Group, said.

“I will pursue with determination the development of our group and strengthen its position as a leader,” he continued.

In its third quarter 2017 financial results, CMA CGM said that its consolidated net income reached USD 323 million in the three months ended September 30, up from USD 219 million seen in the prior quarter.

During the quarter, volumes carried by CMA CGM experienced a strong growth of 11.6%, compared to the same quarter of 2016, as the company carried close to 5 million containers in the three-month period. The change was mainly driven by the strong growth in volumes carried through OCEAN Alliance, on the Asia-USA and Asia-Europe routes, as well as on most of the North-South and Intraregional routes.

The increase in freight rates seen at the beginning of the year continued through the quarter as well, enabling a rise of 14.4% in average revenue per container carried. As a result, revenues in the third quarter of 2017 surged by 27.7% to USD 5.7 billion.

In October and November, the group issued a new bond for an amount of 750 million EUR which proceeds will be used for the early redemption of vessel secured debt and the 2019 NOL bond, CMA CGM said.

Operating performance for the full year 2017 is expected to show a strong improvement over that of 2016.