CMA CGM to get into cold chain, warehousing

With logistics being granted formal infrastructure status, French shipping line CMA CGM (already present in India) plans to enter the warehousing and cold chain segment in the country. 

“We are in discussion with multiple players for investment in warehousing, cold chain and green supply chain (electric vehicles/renewable packaging materials),” Audrey Dolhen, managing director of CMA CGM Agencies (India) told Business Standard. 

The company has six container freight stations in India, mostly around port terminals. With the new move, CMA CGM is the second global terminal operator in the country that is looking to enhance presence in the logistics sector, after DP World. 

“The size of the investment depends on the project requirement. No timeline has been set,” Dolhen added.

Dubai-based DP World plans to invest $1 billion (around Rs 6,500 crore) in India. It will have logistics as the main focus, followed by their shipping business in the container segment. 
 

“India has made a lot of effort to develop the logistics sector. This is the right time to enter logistics in a big way, especially when there are significant government regulatory changes and where customers are re-defining the supply chain strategy,” Dolhen said.

Last month, to attract more investment into the transport and logistics sector, the government gave infrastructure status to the latter segment, covering warehousing facilities and the cold chain segment.

For its container shipping business in India, the global terminal operator says it aims to grow its market share to 16.5 per cent, from 15 per cent at present, despite a not-so-bullish outlook for 2018.

“For this, we will not add capacity, as we do not want to create oversupply and put pressure on freight rates. We want to keep market stable and strong but plan to grow our services with existing capacity. We are still finalising the range of actual services but will achieve the higher market share via new services offered,” Dolhen explained. 

In India, CMA CGM has more than doubled its business in the past five years, in terms of their maritime volume. The group in India is handling container throughput of a little more than a million TEUs (a measure of freight). The company operates 14 mainline services in India covering seven gateway ports — Mundra, Pipavav, Nhava Sheva, Kochi and Chennai are among these — and six feeder ones such as Goa, Mangaluru and Tuticorin.

Its container line has commenced direct services from the country to the east Mediterranean and West Asia. And, expanded its India-Asia service.