Latest news with #GusTrompiz
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
France's CMA CGM to redeploy fleet to avoid U.S. port fees on Chinese vessels
By Gus Trompiz PARIS (Reuters) -French shipping group CMA CGM will reorganise its global fleet to avoid U.S. port fees on Chinese-built vessels that are due to take effect from October, the company's finance director said. The port charges are another operational headache for shipping firms wrestling with the fallout from U.S. tariffs, though adjustments made by Washington after an industry backlash have made the fee scheme less disruptive than feared, Ramon Fernandez, CMA CGM's chief financial officer, told Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration aims to use the port fees to counter China's dominance in global shipbuilding and support a revival of U.S. maritime transport. "We have enough ship capacity to adapt to this situation and avoid paying fees," Fernandez said in an interview, adding that less than half of CMA CGM's fleet of around 670 ships were Chinese-built. On a complex scale of fees, Chinese companies operating ships built in China face the steepest levies for calling at U.S. ports. All shipping firms including China's COSCO would adapt to the fees, Fernandez added during a call with reporters, without commenting on the potential impact on Ocean Alliance, a vessel-sharing agreement in which CMA CGM and COSCO are among the partners. The world's third-largest container shipping line, CMA CGM, was hailed by Trump for a plan to invest $20 billion in the United States. Reporting first-quarter results, CMA CGM said a rush to ship goods before the U.S. tariffs announcement on April 2 had supported a 4.2% year-on-year rise in its maritime volumes, contributing to an increase in group sales and profits. Controlled by the French-Lebanese Saade family, CMA CGM also has a large logistics business and growing media interests. Echoing its peers, CMA CGM said the escalation in tariffs in April had stifled trade between China and the U.S., before a revival in demand this week following a Sino-American agreement to scale back tariffs temporarily. The group saw the cancellation of around half of bookings for May shipments between China and the United States prior to an upturn this week, Fernandez said. "Everyone is expecting trade in June to be much more active than was feared just a few days ago." He declined to give an outlook for full-year volume growth in container shipping, citing uncertainty over how the on-off trade war will play out.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
France's CMA CGM to redeploy fleet to avoid U.S. port fees on Chinese vessels
By Gus Trompiz PARIS (Reuters) -French shipping group CMA CGM will reorganise its global fleet to avoid U.S. port fees on Chinese-built vessels that are due to take effect from October, the company's finance director said. The port charges are another operational headache for shipping firms wrestling with the fallout from U.S. tariffs, though adjustments made by Washington after an industry backlash have made the fee scheme less disruptive than feared, Ramon Fernandez, CMA CGM's chief financial officer, told Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration aims to use the port fees to counter China's dominance in global shipbuilding and support a revival of U.S. maritime transport. "We have enough ship capacity to adapt to this situation and avoid paying fees," Fernandez said in an interview, adding that less than half of CMA CGM's fleet of around 670 ships were Chinese-built. On a complex scale of fees, Chinese companies operating ships built in China face the steepest levies for calling at U.S. ports. All shipping firms including China's COSCO would adapt to the fees, Fernandez added during a call with reporters, without commenting on the potential impact on Ocean Alliance, a vessel-sharing agreement in which CMA CGM and COSCO are among the partners. The world's third-largest container shipping line, CMA CGM, was hailed by Trump for a plan to invest $20 billion in the United States. Reporting first-quarter results, CMA CGM said a rush to ship goods before the U.S. tariffs announcement on April 2 had supported a 4.2% year-on-year rise in its maritime volumes, contributing to an increase in group sales and profits. Controlled by the French-Lebanese Saade family, CMA CGM also has a large logistics business and growing media interests. Echoing its peers, CMA CGM said the escalation in tariffs in April had stifled trade between China and the U.S., before a revival in demand this week following a Sino-American agreement to scale back tariffs temporarily. The group saw the cancellation of around half of bookings for May shipments between China and the United States prior to an upturn this week, Fernandez said. "Everyone is expecting trade in June to be much more active than was feared just a few days ago." He declined to give an outlook for full-year volume growth in container shipping, citing uncertainty over how the on-off trade war will play out. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Shipping giant CMA CGM and French AI startup target customer service in tie-up
By Gus Trompiz and Florence Loeve PARIS (Reuters) - Shipping giant CMA CGM and tech startup Mistral AI expect rapid productivity gains from a 100 million euro partnership unveiled on Sunday, which the French firms also touted as a commitment to their home country amid the global trade tensions. The five-year partnership, which will bring CMA CGM's AI-related spending to 500 million euros ($550 million), will focus on customer service in shipping and logistics and factchecking at its French media businesses that include news channel BFM TV. In a joint interview with Mistral's co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch, CMA CGM's Chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saade declined to give financial targets for return on investment. But Saade said "the implementation of initiatives should not exceed 6 to 12 months" and would slash response times for customer advisers receiving 1 million emails a week, including requests on routing of vessels. After drawing massive funding, the AI sector is under pressure to deliver gains, with the emergence of low-cost Chinese AI model DeepSeek unsettling investors. Mistral gained huge exposure at an international AI gathering in Paris in February, feted by President Emmanuel Macron as a European champion to compete with American giants such as OpenAI, which produces ChatGPT. It has this year notched up partnerships with leading French groups including car maker Stellantis. Mistral, which counts CMA CGM among its investors, expects a 10-fold increase in sales between December 2024 and December 2025, Mensch said. But AI regulation has been among subjects of discord between the U.S. administration and Europe, and relations soured further after President Donald Trump announced his sweeping tariffs. "In this period of uncertainty, I think it's a good thing for two French groups to announce this partnership," Saade said, while adding he believed in investing worldwide in open markets. CMA CGM, the world's third-biggest container shipping line, was hailed by Trump last month for pledging to invest $20 billion in the United States. The group has also teamed up with U.S. tech names, including Alphabet's Google, with which CMA CGM last July announced a five-year AI partnership worth $150 million. ($1 = 0.9101 euros) Sign in to access your portfolio
Zawya
04-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
World food prices steady in March, UN's FAO says
PARIS - Global food commodity prices edged up in March, with a sharp rise in vegetable oils offsetting declines in cereals and sugar, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday. The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in a basket of internationally traded food commodities, averaged 127.1 points in March against a revised estimate of 126.8 for February. The March reading was up 6.9% from a year earlier but 20.7% below a March 2022 peak following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. (Reporting by Gus Trompiz; Editing by Alison Williams)
Zawya
13-02-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Saudi Arabia tenders to buy estimated 595,000 T wheat, traders say
PARIS/HAMBURG - Saudi Arabia's state purchasing agency the General Food Security Authority (GFSA) has issued an international tender to buy an estimated 595,000 metric tons of wheat, European traders said on Thursday. The deadline for submissions of price offers in the tender is Friday, Feb. 14, they said. Traders said results are expected on Monday, February 17. Ten consignments of 12.5% protein hard wheat are sought with shipments of around 60,000 tons each to the ports of Jeddah, Dammam and Yanbu plus 55,000 tons to Jizan, traders said. Traders said this is regarded as a target and the number of consignments and distribution between the ports can be different in a final purchase. Some 180,000 tons was sought for arrival in Jeddah between May 1 and June 30. Another 240,000 tons was sought for arrival in Yanbu between May 1 and July 15. Another 120,000 tons was sought for arrival in Dammam between May 1 and June 15. Some 55,000 tons was sought for arrival in Jizan between July 1-15. (Reporting by Gus Trompiz and Michael Hogan, editing by Tomasz Janowski)
