CMA CGM’s net profit soars 333%

CMA CGM’s net profit soars 333%    CMA CGM is the latest container shipping company to announce meteoric rises in its profit results for 2003, with a net profit up 333 percent to 202 million euros ($253 million) from 47 million euros in 2002.
   Operating income soared 146 percent to 260 million euros ($325 million) last year from 105 million euros in 2002. The carrier’s operating margin last year amounted to 8.6 percent, a very high figure by recent industry standards.
   CMA CGM’s revenues increased 20 percent last year to 3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) from 2.5 billion euros in 2002, as the carrier’s traffic grew 13 percent to 2.9 million TEUs from 2.5 million TEUs.
   “The global environment continued to recover in 2003, considerably benefiting the container shipping industry, which saw volumes increase by 14 percent during the year,” CMA CGM said.
   The French shipping line stressed the importance of its activities in Asia, and particularly in China.
   China and Hong Kong accounted for 32 percent of the worldwide carryings of CMA CGM in 2003, and Asia as a whole had a share of 52 percent. The carrier has been active in China since 1994, where it now employs 725 in 40 offices. CMA CGM plans to open another 14 offices in the country, saying it expects the Chinese economy to continue to expand this year.
   The carrier provides 22 weekly services from and to Chinese ports, including Hong Kong.
   CMA CGM has ordered nine new vessels of 8,200-TEU capacity, as well as 12 smaller ships.
   It will start a “Shanghai Express Service” in the transpacific in June. The carrier has said it will enter the Montreal/North Europe trade with a weekly service starting at the end of this month.
   In February, CMA CGM launched a weekly service between the Western Mediterranean and Tunisia, and a separate service between Busan in South Korea and Vostochny in the Russian Far East, connecting with the trans-Siberian.
   In May, the company plans to commence a service linking China to the West Coast of South America.