21 58 e 43.314892 n 5.366006 e 43.314892 ; 5.366006 cma cgm type soci t anonyme industry containerization founded 1978 founder jacques saad headquarters cma cgm tower marseille france number of locations 650 offices agencies area served worldwide key people jacques r. saad group chairman & ceo products container shipping revenue 16.5 billion 2013 number of employees 20 000 subsidiaries list of subsidiaries website www.cma cgm.com footnotes references 1 cma cgm s.a. is a french container transportation and shipping company headed by jacques saad . it is the third largest container company in the world 2 using 170 shipping routes between 400 ports in 150 different countries . 3 its headquarters are in marseille 4 and its north american headquarters are in norfolk virginia usa . the name is an acronym which spelled out would translate as maritime freighting company general maritime company . contents 1 history 2 key figures 21 3 subsidiaries 4 joint ventures 5 fleet 6 cma cgm corporate foundation for children 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit cma cgm container compagnie g n rale maritime cgm the history of cma cgm can be traced back to the middle of the 19th century when two major french shipping lines were created respectively messageries maritimes mm in 1851 and compagnie g n rale maritime cgm in 1855 soon renamed compagnie g n rale transatlantique in 1861 . both companies were created partly with the backing of the french state through the award of mail contracts to various destinations french colonies and overseas territories as well as foreign countries . after the two world wars the two companies became state owned corporations of the competitive sector entreprise publique du secteur concurrentiel i.e. companies that while owned by the state were run as private for profit businesses operating in competitive markets . the french government under president val ry giscard d estaing and prime minister jacques chirac progressively merged the two companies between 1974 and 1977 to form compagnie g n rale maritime which was still owned by the french state and still run as a competitive business although sometimes subject to political pressure for instance on the selection of shipyards to build new ships . compagnie g n rale maritime cgm operated as such from 1974 to 1996 when it was privatized by the french state under president jacques chirac and prime minister alain jupp . during these 22 years it operated freight and container liner services in various global trade lanes as well as a fleet of dry bulk ships and a few large oil tankers and liquefied natural gas lng tankers with headquarters located in paris western suburbs first in paris la defense then in close by suresnes . the cgm liner services mostly containerized but also operating a significant fleet of con ro vessels able to load roll on roll off cargoes were re structured from the two parent companies main trade lanes i.e. western trade lanes americas for compagnie g n rale transatlantique cgt and eastern trade lanes asia east africa pacific plus eastern south america for messageries maritimes mm . after merger and re structure cgm s liner services were managed in four distinct trade divisions north america & far east amneo for am rique du nord & extr me orient which also managed the bulk and tanker fleets south america & caribbean amlat pacific & indian ocean pacoi and short sea trades cabotage . separately mr. jacques saad had created cma in 1978 as an intra mediterranean liner service operator based in marseille . in 1996 cgm was privatized and sold to compagnie maritime d affr tement cma to form cma cgm . 5 in 1998 the combined company purchased australian national lines anl . container ship cma cgm balzac in the port of zeebrugge belgium cma cgm acquired its french rival delmas based in le havre from the bollor group in september 2005 for 600 million euros . the acquisition was completed in early january 5 2006 . the resulting corporation became the third largest container company in the world behind the danish a.p. moller maersk group and the swiss mediterranean shipping company s.a. . 6 on april 4 2008 pirates seized the cma cgm luxury cruise ship le ponant off the coast of somalia . cma cgm and its affiliates have been victimized in various arms shipping incidents . november 2009 south africa seized arms traveling from north korea by way of china . the seizure amounted to two containers filled with tank parts and other military equipment from north korea which included gun sights tracks and other spare parts for t 54 and t 55 tanks and other war material valued at an estimated 750 000 . the military equipment was concealed in containers lined with sacks of rice and shipping documents identified the cargo as spare parts for a bulldozer . according to the report the containers were originally loaded in dalian china onto the cma cgm musca a uk flagged container ship . the shipment was reportedly destined for pointe noire in the republic of congo . 7 8 july 2009 the united arab emirates seized a shipment of weapons from north korea destined for iran . the shipment was made in violation of un security council resolution 1874 which bans all north korean arms exports . the weapons which included rpgs detonators ammunition and rocket propellant were shipped by a bahamian flagged vessel of anl australia a wholly owned subsidiary of cma cgm . 9 10 october 2010 nigerian authorities seized 13 shipping containers carrying illegal iranian weaponry at lagos apapa port . the containers included 107 mm artillery rockets katyushas explosives and rifle ammunition . the arms were to be shipped next to the gambia with the final destination of the cargo possibly the gaza strip . the mv cma cgm everest originally picked up the containers from the iranian port of bandar abbas . cma cgm says it was victim of a false cargo declaration claiming the weapons were shipped in packages labeled as glass wool and pallets of stone and that the iranian shipper does not appear on any forbidden persons listing . 11 march 2011 israeli forces intercepted the vessel victoria in international waters in the mediterranean sea stating that it was carrying weapons by iran via syria . according to israeli officials the arms shipments included roughly 2 500 mortar shells nearly 75 000 bullets and six c 704 anti ship missiles . israel said the ultimate destination of the cargo was for the hamas controlled gaza strip . 12 cma cgm which chartered the vessel stated the ship s manifests do not show any cargo in contravention of international regulations and we do not have any more information at this stage . 13 as a result of cma cgm s involvement in iranian weapons smuggling us congressmen have called on cma cgm to be investigated and urged the us treasury department to consider levying sanctions against the shipper . 14 the company has since implemented tighter procedures for accepting shipments bound for iran 15 including scanning all containers destined the country . 16 cma cgm also ceased exporting from iran from november 2011 . 16 in 2014 cma cgm signs the ocean three agreements . the group strengthens its offer by signing major agreements on the biggest worldwide maritime trades with cscl and uasc . in april 2015 the group acquired a strategic stake in lcl logistix a logistics leader in india via its subsidiary cma cgm log . in december 2015 the cma cgm benjamin franklin called at the port of los angeles and thus became the largest vessel ever to call the united states . 17 the container ship 1 300 ft. long and 177 ft. wide was inaugurated in port of long beach on february 19 . 18 in july 2016 cma cgm finalized its acquisition of singapore based nol neptune orient lines and its container line apl american president lines after an all cash offer of 2.4 billion usd . the takeover is cma cgm s largest acquisition and the purchase added 12 percent market share to the cma cgm group . the singapore exchange securities trading suspended trading of nol shares at the end of the offer . 19 20 key figures 21 edit cma cgm nevada in the port of zeebrugge belgium teus twenty foot equivalent units cma cgm 2015 total revenue usd 15.7 billion number of containers carried 13 million teus total fleet vessel 471 total fleet capacity 1.900 million teus staff worldwide 22 000 employees staff in france 4 500 employees world ranking 3rd subsidiaries edit cma cgm tower constructed in marseille other maritime activities australian national lines anl oceania asia europe & us trades delmas container and roro line macandrews iberian peninsula shipping and travel industry services comanav passenger ferry and container services from morocco to europe u.s. lines us based trans pacific container lines cheng lie navigation co. ltd intra asia container line based in taiwan opdr short sea shipping company apl singapore based container line acquired by cma cgm along with its parent company nol terminal activities terminal link container terminals developer and operator ranked n 12 worldwide cma terminals holding intermodal activities and logistics progeco container sales leasing & repairing cma cgm logistics purchase to delivery global carrier greenmodal transport rail link multimodal rail bound transport solutions river shuttle containers rh ne sa ne axis containerised river transportation support activities cma ships a wholly owned subsidiary managing all fleet related operations joint ventures edit cma systems fleet edit cma cgm containers on train in 2015 cma cgm s fleet gathers 471 vessels 2 244 509 container teus 185 000 reefer containers this fleet sails 170 maritime services and calls 400 ports in 160 countries . there are 521 commercial ports in the world at the moment . some emblematic group s vessels are the cma cgm jules verne 16 020 teus was baptized in june 2013 by the french president fran ois hollande . at that time this vessel sailing under french flag was the world s biggest container ship . the cma cgm marco polo 16 020 teus the cma cgm alexander von humboldt 16 020 teus the cma cgm kerguelen 18 000 teus the cma cgm vasco de gama 18 000 teus the cma cgm bougainville 18 000 teus the cma cgm georg forster 18 000 teus the cma cgm zheng he 18 000 teus the cma cgm benjamin franklin 18 000 teus cma cgm corporate foundation for children edit created in 2005 the cma cgm corporate foundation for children s objective is to improve the well being of children . it defined 3 different targets to improve the everyday lives of children who are ill to promote equal opportunities for children coming from underprivileged backgrounds to encourage the personal development of children with disabilities see also edit top intermodal container companies list references edit about us . cma cgm . careers at cma cgm cma cgm website . contact . gma cgm . retrieved on 22 september 2011 . cma cgm marseille head office 4 quai d arenc 13235 marseille cedex 02 france renaud lecade 2005 07 19 . touch coul chez les fr res saad reprint in french . lib ration . cma cgm completes the acquisition of delmas jan. 10 2006 cma cgm press release . jor lauria gordon fairclough and peter wonacott 26 february 2010 . pretoria seized north korean weapons . the wall street journal . retrieved 18 march 2011 . edith lederer 25 february 2010 . south africa reports nkorea sanctions violation . the seattle times . associated press . retrieved 18 march 2011 . peter spiegel and chip cummins 31 august 2009 . cargo of north korea mat riel is seized en route to iran . the wall street journal . retrieved 18 march 2011 . joby warrick 3 december 2009 . arms smuggling heightens iran