CMA CGM to Strengthen Presence in South America

CMA CGM In addition to the Mercosul buyout project, French container shipping company CMA CGM plans to reshuffle its two services, pursuing its development strategy in South America. The services in question, linking South America and Europe, are Safran for Northern Europe and Sirius for the Mediterranean. Scheduled to start in Rotterdam on September 27, 2017, the Safran service will now call at the Port of Pecem, Brazil. The Safran service will call at the ports of Rotterdam / London / Hamburg / Antwerp / Le Havre / Algeciras / Santos / Paranagua / Buenos Aires / Montevideo / Itapoa / Paranagua / Santos / Pecem / Tangier. The Sirius service connects ports on the East Coast of South America via its hub in Malta to ports in the eastern Mediterranean, North Africa in the Adriatic Sea or the Indian subcontinent. The company intends to improve its port coverage by adding the Port of Algeciras, giving a fast transit time from Asian ports via transshipment. Starting from October 6, 2017, the Sirius service will call at the ports of: Malta / Genoa / Barcelona / Valencia / Algeciras / Salvador / Itaguai / Santos / Itapoa / Buenos Aires / Rio Grande / Itajai / Itapoa / Santos / Itaguai / Tanger / Algeciras. The CMA CGM Group will supply 3 of the 8 ships in Sirius. By becoming a ship operator in this trade, the CMA CGM Group is increasing its capacity and strengthening its presence on the East Coast of South America. In June, CMA CGM inked a binding deal with Danish shipping major Maersk Line to acquire Mercosul Line that operates in Brazils domestic container shipping market. The acquisition is subject to Brazilian regulatory approval. The move would allow the company to expand its service offering to and from South America. It is said to be part of CMA CGMs strategy to develop intra-regional sea transportation links and complementary services such as logistics.