Rodolphe Saade, the billionaire head of the world’s third-largest container shipping line, warned that the industry is entering a choppy period as new vessels ordered during the pandemic shipping boom enter service next year.
“The difficulty in our sector is that we have a number of container ships that will come into the market starting next year, and that runs the risk of creating an imbalance between supply and demand,” Saade, chief executive officer of Marseille-based shipping giant CMA CGM SA, said in an interview.
He was speaking on Friday at an event in Paris to mark the creation of a nonprofit artificial intelligence research lab that is being backed by the company his family controls.
Photo: Bloomberg
The outlook for the shipping sector has darkened considerably in recent months, with some of the largest container lines including AP Moller-Maersk A/S, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM publishing significant slumps in third-quarter earnings and outlining plans for cost-cutting. Some have said that they fear the decline would last through next year.
“We’re expecting between 2 percent and 3 percent of trade growth next year,” Saade said, adding that CMA CGM is “financially solid” with significant market share in countries in which it is operating that would help it weather the difficulties.
“The shipping industry is used to these highs and lows. It’s completely cyclical,” he said. “We had excellent results in 2021 and 2022. Now we’re entering more normal times and we’re equipped for that.”
CMA CGM has used its pandemic windfall to invest and expand, acquiring ports, logistics and air transport assets, including its biggest-ever deal to acquire Bollore SE’s logistics arm for an enterprise value of US$5.4 billion.
Closely held CMA CGM was started by his father, Jacques, and the family remains in control. Under Rodolphe, the company has diversified into the media, buying newspapers such as La Tribune and La Provence.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS