The shipping company CMA CGM inaugurates its Tangram training and innovation center in Marseille on Wednesday May 8, in the presence of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron. After 2020-2022 marked by 40 billion euros in profits, the world’s third largest container ship owner is entering a more complex period in its history, explains to World its CEO, Rodolphe Saadé.
Tangram has the ambition to “create the sustainable transport and logistics of tomorrow”. Do they lack the ability to project into the future?
The world is changing very quickly, and we needed a place to think differently about our jobs. I want Tangram to provide the tools to tackle the difficulties of today and tomorrow. Who would have predicted Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, the crisis in the Red Sea? CMA CGM has three challenges: climate, geopolitics and artificial intelligence (AI). With Tangram, I invest in people. Employees are the key to meeting these challenges, accelerating our transformation and remaining in the top 3 worldwide.
I have made the commitment to be net zero in 2050, but we must be clear: it will be difficult. I hope we will have found the solutions by then. With the crisis in the Red Sea, I am falling behind, since the ships diverted by the Cape of Good Hope take two weeks longer between Asia and Northern Europe, and consume more fuel.
Also read (2023) | Article reserved for our subscribers Five shipowners commit to total decarbonization of maritime transport in 2050
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At the same time, we invested 15 billion euros in a fleet using liquefied natural gas (LNG) and now methanol. In December 2023, at COP28 in Dubai, I presented a roadmap developed with MSC, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and Wallenius to achieve this “net zero”. CMA CGM was a pioneer in decarbonization, not all shipowners are making this effort.
Your Asian competitors?
Yes. Since January, we have been paying a tax in Europe which will cost 140 million euros this year and nearly 500 million in 2026. This taxation must be global.
The International Maritime Organization must also [agence de l’ONU] decides on the best energy to propel our ships into the future. New fuels are twice as expensive as current fuels and require heavy investments in research and development (R&D). Today we are investing in LNG and methanol, tomorrow in hydrogen and ammonia. I would like to strengthen collaborations with producers: we are ready to commit to volumes. For its part, AI will allow us to better analyze data to serve customers and optimize our maneuvers to limit their footprint.
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