CMA CGM acquiring short sea carrier OPDR

CMA CGM believes there are synerigies with another short sea operator it owns, McAndrews.    CMA CGM said it will acquire the Hamburg-headquartered short sea shipping line Oldenburg-Portugiesische Dampfschiffs-Rhederei GmbH & Co. KG (OPDR)
   Owned by the Bernhard Schulte Group, OPDR operates five different services between:

* North Europe and the Canary Islands
* Seville and the Canary Islands
* North Europe, Spain, Portugal and Morocco
* North Europe and Morocco
* North Europe, Spain and Scandinavia

   “This new acquisition reinforces the group’s presence on the growing intra-European Short Sea transportation market. This is a continuation of our strategy to broaden our regional network, a strategy which began with the acquisition of MacAndrews in 2002. As with MacAndrews, we plan on maintaining and developing the OPDR company, as well as creating new synergies with both MacAndrews and the CMA CGM Group,” said Farid T. Salem, CMA CGM’s group executive officer.
   In 2014, OPDR expects to carry more than 240,000 TEUs, and MacAndrews expects to carry more than 290,000 TEUs. To put that in perspective, CMA CGM carried more than 1.6 million TEUs in the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30.
   “OPDR and MacAndrews’ joint capacities will reinforce the CMA CGM Group’s intra-European offering, and its tailor-made intermodal solutions,” said CMA CGM.
   CMA CGM did not disclose the purchase price, and it noted the deal is subject to regulatory approval.
   OPDR offers door-to-door carriage, and in addition to carrying standard international containers, it also carries “pallet-wide” containers that are popular with many European shippers.
   The company explained on its website that it has 20-foot, 40-foot and 45-foot containers that are “adequate for shipping Euro-pallets because the interior dimensions are slightly wider than the dimensions of a standard container. The advantage for our customers: You can ship 30 Euro-pallets in a 40′ pallet-wide container in comparison to 25 in a 40-foot standard container. And you can put 33 Euro-pallets in a 45-foot, pallet-wide container instead of only 27 in a 45-foot, standard container. This way, loss due to stowing reasons and the risk of the cargo slipping (moving) during transport are avoided.”