CMA CGM chief executive Rodolphe Saade has warned container lines that the coronavirus pandemic will mean a complete overhaul of supply chains.
In a video message on its website, he said he felt it was important for him to reach out personally to customers in this unprecedented crisis.
"The supply chain has become more important than ever," he added.
The containership operator has maintained services in all its markets, he said, noting that he hoped the pandemic would soon be overcome.
But the outbreak will change working habits and consumer patterns, Saade added.
"It will impact world economic flows and will necessitate that we all rethink our supply chain models," the CEO said.
They will need to be redesigned with more resilience, he said, and "be able to quickly adapt to sharp fluctuations in supply and demand."
The virus will lead to a reorganisation of international trade, with more diversified sources for companies and more intra-regional exchanges of cargo, he added.
"Finally we will need to accelerate energy transition and move towards more eco-friendly modes of transport," Saade concluded.
Bonds hit during pandemic
Last month, TradeWinds reported that CMA CGM chief financial officer Michel Sirat said the value of its bonds had plummeted in the crisis.
But the Marseilles-based operator took the market by surprise by unexpectedly revealing a three-year extension to $535m of unsecured credit lines with banks.
That defied expectations that the Saade-family controlled liner operator would be unable to renew financing due to the ongoing health scare.
Not all 100% of the initial $705m credit lines expected to mature in March and September have been renewed.
“Some smaller, non-core banks have been frightened by coronavirus, and that has made the discussion a bit more difficult with those banks,” said Sirat.
