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CMA CGM sign agreement for first
port investment in China
A "strategic cooperation agreement for the development of the port
of Haicang at Xiamen" was signed on 26th Nov by CMA CGM Group, the
Municipality of Xiamen and New World Services Holding Ltd, at the
Great Hall of the People in Beijing...
A "strategic cooperation agreement for the development of the port of
Haicang at Xiamen" was signed on 26th November by CMA CGM Group, the Municipality
of Xiamen (province of Fujian) and New World Services Holding Ltd (NWS),
at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, in presence of the French
and Chinese presidents, Mr Nicolas SARKOZY and Mr HU JINTAO. According
to this agreement, CMA CGM and its partners will invest in the
construction and management of a deep water container terminal. This
project will soon be finalized between CMA CGM, NWS and "Xiamen
Haicang Investment General Co" so as to be operational in 2009.
The port of Xiamen ranks 22nd in the world in container traffic with
more than 4 M teus in 2006 and 13% growth expected for 2007. CMA CGM
is the third largest container shipping group for international
traffic in China, with 280,000 teus planned for 2007.
New World is a well established Hong Kong based group, which has a
rich experience of investments in transport infrastructure projects in
China, especially in ports (Xiamen, Tianjin, Dalian, Wenzhou).
This will be CMA CGM’s first port investment project in China. The
French group has shares in 16 port terminals in the world. It has
already invested in China, where it acquired in 2006 an eight percent
share in "China Rail Intermodal", a project of more than 1.6 billion
USD to conceive, build and manage a network of 18 railway container
stations, covering the entire Chinese territory.
Present in China since 1992, CMA CGM has developed a dense network of
62 offices and will realize in 2007 a traffic of about 2.5 million
teus, which represents approximately 10% of deep sea Chinese exports
(Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Oceania). The group offers
30 weekly maritime services from China. Its subsidiary, CMA CGM
Logistics, is also developing at full speed. Mr. Jacques R. SAADE,
founder and President of CMA CGM declared in Beijing: "Thanks to this
new terminal, CMA CGM container ships will benefit from a better
quality of service in Xiamen, which will become a transshipment hub
for the Group in South China, allowing lines to rationalize their
operations in the area. The Group also wishes to invest in the ports
of Tianjin (Northern China) and Shanghai/Yangshan (China Center)."
Signed in the presence of the highest French and Chinese authorities,
this agreement is the first of this scale to be concluded between the
two countries in the maritime sector.
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