Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO, CMA CGM Group, has announced several measures to support the French shipping sector through which the CMA CGM Group reaffirms its commitment to the development of a decarbonised and competitive French maritime industry.
Speaking at the Assises de l’Économie de la Mer conference, an annual event for the French shipping industry, Saadé reaffirmed the Group’s creation of an Energy Fund to help achieve zero carbon by 2050. With €1.5bn to be endowed over five years, the fund aims to support the industrial production of new decarbonised sources of energy and the development of low-consumption, high-efficiency solutions across all the Group’s activities.
CMA CGM will dedicate €200m of the budget to projects led by French shipping and port industry organisations. A dedicated centre for projects will be launched in January 2023 which aims to support initiatives and accelerate the pace of the energy transition across the entire shipping and port industry in France. Sponsors will be able to submit an application which will then be reviewed by a technical committee incorporating independent experts and representatives of the French State. By taking this initiative, CMA CGM will play its part and contribute in new innovation-led projects for the decarbonised French shipping industry.
The CMA CGM Group aim is to develop the French-flagged fleet as an example of how to embrace the energy transition. To achieve this, the Group is making a commitment to the École Nationale Supérieure Maritime (ENSM), which trains future French officers, so it can increase the size of its intake and support the training of student officers to meet the challenges of the future – the energy transition and digital technology.
The launch of Tangram, the Group’s excellence, and innovation training centre due to open in 2023 next to the current site of the Marseille ENSM, will also pave the way for more partnerships.
