Record order from France to China's shipbuilding company CSSC

During French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to China, a record-breaking agreement was signed between the two countries in the shipping sector. According to the Chinese economic and financial news service Caixin, the French shipping company CMA CGM reached an agreement with the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) for the construction of 16 large container ships. The agreement, which totals $3.2 billion, is the largest single-volume ship order the Chinese company has ever received. Within the scope of the agreement, 4 ships with a capacity of 23,000 TEU and 12 ships with a capacity of 15,000 TEU will be delivered to the French company. The ships will be built in CSSC’s shipyards in Shanghai and Dalian, China. Headquartered in Marseille, CMA CGM has a fleet of 606 container ships with a carrying capacity of 3.41 million TEU. The company had become the world’s third largest shipping company by surpassing China’s Cosco with its capacity increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company, which ordered 12 ships with a capacity of 13,000 TEU from a shipyard in South Korea in February, aims to add 101 new ships with a total capacity of 920,000 TEU to its fleet and reach the current capacity of Danish company Maersk, which ranks second after the sector's leader, the Swiss-Italian partnership Mediterranean.