Flush with cash from a surge in transport costs across the world, French liner CMA CGM is taking full control over the third-largest port in the Los Angeles/Long Beach area.
CMA CGM announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire the 90% stake it did not already own in the Fenix Marine Services (FMS) terminal, which handles around 2.5 million teu annually.
The stake is held by EQT Infrastructure III. No price details were announced, other than to say the purchase price is based on FMS' assumed enterprise value of $2.3bn.
CMA CGM will fund the acquisition, which is still subject to regulatory approval, from its "own resources".
This is not surprising, considering that it reported bumper net income of $3.47bn in the second quarter of this year — a multiple of the $136m it earned in the same period of 2020.
Containership freight rates have soared amid the post-Covid economic rebound, mainly due to global port congestion that is filling liner companies' coffers but also poses a huge logistical challenge.
"The swift recovery of the global economy has demonstrated the importance of ports and logistics infrastructure," CMA CGM chairman and chief executive Rodolphe Saade said.
His company consequently assumed full control over FMS "in order to manage efficiently our port operations on the West Coast of the US".
CMA CGM said it has big investment and expansion plans for the terminal, which enjoys long-term rights to carry out its business through a concession agreement valid until 2043.
FMS disposes over four berths, each more than 1,000 feet (305 metres) long and with a draft of 50 feet, 16 cranes and eight in-terminal rail tracks.
As early as next year, the terminal will handle the first LNG-powered 15,000-teu containerships that CMA CGM plans to deploy on routes between Asia and the US.
The French company operates 24 transpacific services and has stakes in 49 ports in 27 countries, through subsidiaries CMA Terminals and Terminal Link.
