Gefco trains, a car transport company acquired by CMA CGM in 2022, at the Stellantis car manufacturing plant in Sochaux, eastern France, on May 4, 2022. LIONEL VADAM/L'EST REPUBLICAIN/MAXPPP
The world's major shipping lines no longer dominate only the oceans; they are also expanding their empires onto land. This diversification has proven invaluable during times of crisis. When the Strait of Hormuz was closed, the French shipping company CMA CGM – which, with 700 vessels, is the world's third largest maritime group – was able to reorganize its supply routes in the region by transporting cargo overland that would normally have traveled by sea.
"Once we got over the initial shock, we quickly set up new corridors by deploying a fleet of trucks," said Mathieu Friedberg, CEO of CEVA Logistics, the group's subsidiary that manages goods flows of all types to their end users. CEVA was able to rely on its extensive regional network, including a Saudi trucking company in which it holds a majority stake. This investment, one of many for the group, highlights the crucial role logistics plays in CMA CGM's overall strategy.
"Logistics was long viewed as secondary. Since Covid-19, we have moved away from the era of unbridled globalization, and our business has become even more critical as one crisis follows another," Friedberg explained. Like its competitors, CMA CGM has methodically built a network along the logistics chain, moving further and further from its original core business and shifting from "port to port" shipping to "door to door" delivery.
