CMA CGM Group, a shipping and logistics giant, has agreed to make a €25 million investment, including €10 million in quasi-equity, in Brittany Ferries, the largest ferry company operating under the French flag, to support Brittany Ferries’ post-Covid-19 recovery.
Brittany Ferries said the partnership would help to unlock synergies between the two companies in passenger and freight transport.
"By harnessing the respective areas of expertise of the CMA CGM Group and Brittany Ferries, it will also help promote the development of cross-Channel shipping and underpin France’s position in the sector. Under this agreement, a representative of the CMA CGM Group will join Brittany Ferries’ Supervisory Board," Brittany Ferries said.
The agreement establishes a commercial partnership between the CMA CGM Group and Brittany Ferries through the use of available cargo space on board Brittany Ferries’ services to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Iberian Peninsula.
The transportation of goods aboard Brittany Ferries’ roll-on roll-off (roro) ships will help expand the CMA CGM Group’s offering in the roro sector for the Atlantic and northern coast of France to destinations in the United Kingdom.
"The partnership with CMA CGM will also pave the way for Brittany Ferries to gain more expertise in freight and logistics. It will help the company to adapt more easily to the post-Covid-19 trends in goods transportation, including the transport of unaccompanied trailers, and to offer new transport services so it can better meet the needs of its customers," Brittany Ferries said.
Through this agreement, both groups will be able to introduce new roro services, the company said.
LNG-powered ships
CMA CGM and Brittany Ferries, both of which are committed to developing liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power their ships, will be looking at ways of sharing their LNG knowledge and resources in areas such as training for French crews and safety procedures.
Both companies have also undertaken to introduce more environmentally-friendly shipping and logistics solutions, Brittany Ferries added.
Two new LNG-powered ships are due to join Brittany Ferries’ fleet next year and in 2023. The new Ro-pax vessels, to be named Salamanca and Santoña, will operate services between the United Kingdom and Spain.
In addition, Brittany Ferries is about to introduce a new rail freight service to expand its multimodal offering. By year-end 2022 the company will offer its customers an unaccompanied trailer transport service on the Atlantic coast rail network between Bayonne and Cherbourg.
