Has NOL acquisition come at a heavy price for CMA CGM?

© Vladimir Serebryanskiy | Dreamstime.com

CMA CGM’s finances have always verged on the opaque in comparison with its listed peers, such as Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, and it is difficult to accurately assess its performance since it bought Singapore’s NOL last year. However, the recent recovery in freight rates, combined with a cash-raising exercise via the sale of some or all of NOL’s APL Terminals, as well as outsourcing some of its feeder business, could put its new acquisition on the path to profit.