September 13, 1978 – September 13, 2021: a 43-year exceptional entrepreneurial journey

The journey began in 1978, with the vision of one man: Jacques Saadé. The Group’s founder created CMA, starting with a shipping route from Marseille to Beirut and turning it into one of the world’s top three shipping companies in less than 30 years.

In 1983, it made its first crossing of the Suez Canal. In 1986, CMA launched its first service between the Far East and Europe: the Red Sea Express.

Visionary leader Jacques Saadé was the first of his peers to recognize China’s huge potential and opened his first office in Shanghai in 1992.

As a family-owned business, the Group’s development has been centered around men and women who share the same values:, excellence, exemplarity, imagination and boldness to ensure the Group’s growth, including in particular the acquisition of CGM in 1996, ANL in 1998, Delmas in 2005, CNC in 2007 and APL in 2016.

Rodolphe Saadé, who has headed up the company since 2017, has led the Group to a new era, stepping up its pace of development. He has made three major decisions that have given the Group a new dimension:

• In 2019, the acquisition of CEVA Logistics, making CMA CGM a world market leader in shipping and logistics.
• In 2017, the choice of LNG to power the series of 23,000 TEU vessels, and then a series of 15,000 TEU vessels. In 2020, he announced his desire to become carbon net zero by 2050, making CMA CGM the undisputed leader in energy transition in the shipping industry.
• In 2021, the launch of CMA CGM AIR CARGO, to offer our clients new transportation solutions spanning the entire logistics chain.
   

With our sights resolutely set on the future, we are continuing to transform shipping and logistics applying our recognized expertise, our audacious approach that lets us break boundaries, our ability to continually come up with new ideas and our unfailingly exemplary approach.

We believe in different ways – ways that are more innovative, more responsible, and more respectful of human beings – and we are determined to open new and better ways for all our customers, partners and staff members.

Together, we will continue to develop the CMA CGM Group by adopting “Better Ways”.