by Lloyd's List
29 July 2025 (Lloyd's List) - CMA CGM reported second-quarter container volumes on a par with the same period in 2024, attributed to the French container line’s ability to redeploy vessels to other trades following a sharp decline in box traffic between China and the US.
“The near stability in volumes comes in a context of a sharp but temporary decline in trade flows between China and the US during the period,” said CMA CGM.
However, the reduction in high revenue earning Chinese exports weighed on CMA CGM’s profit margins during the quarter.
The owner of the world’s third-largest operator of containerships posted a 0.3% increase in group revenue to $13.2bn in the second quarter, up from $13.1bn in 2Q24.
CMA CGM Group’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in 2Q25 was $2.3bn, down by 7.9% year on year.
Commenting on the group’s second-quarter results, chairman and chief executive Rodolphe Saadé said: “In a context marked by persistent geopolitical tensions and renewed trade uncertainties, our group is delivering a stable performance, driven by the resilience of its maritime activities.
“These results also highlight the relevance of our diversification strategy across terminals, logistics and air freight, which enables us to offer global solutions and adjust our operations more swiftly to shifts in global trade.”
Maritime shipping operations provided $8.2bn of revenues, down by 0.2% year on year, while ebitda was down 19.9% year on year, to $1.6bn.
The division transported 5.97m teu in 2Q25, compared to 5.98m teu in the corresponding period of 2024, during what was described as a “volatile market environment”. Average revenue per teu was $1,367, a decrease of 1.2% compared to 2Q24.
CMA CGM took delivery of four LNG dual-fuel 8,000 teu and two 23,000 teu newbuildings in the second quarter, in addition to three methanol dual-fuel 13,000 teu vessels.
The group’s logistics activities, which includes vehicle processing and transport business Ceva Logistics, provided $4.6bn of revenue for the second quarter of the year, down by 3.7%. Revenue from other activities including terminals, air cargo and media increased by 62.7% to $1bn.
CMA CGM chief financial officer Ramon Fernandez said the outlook for its container shipping business was “extremely uncertain” due to trade tensions and rising deliveries of containership newbuildings.
“There is significant uncertainty on the demand side while vessel supply is increasing. But we have a number of means to adjust capacity if needed including blank sailings and the offhire of chartered tonnage,” Fernandez said on a media call.
He noted that the threat of high tariffs by the US government from April led to volatile supply chains for US imports, leading to a complex “stop and go” environment for shippers.
While container volumes from China to the US declined, with the trade estimated to have dropped by 40% since the beginning of the year, these were offset by strong growth in other trade lanes, in particular China-South America, China-Middle East, Asia-Europe and the intra-Asia trades.
