Wake-up call for CMA CGM

I guess CMA CGM has finally figured out things aren't getting better any time soon.

Pity is, they only figured this out when they have almost run out of cash.

Now, they will ask creditors for a moratorium on debt, and consider canceling and/or delaying ship orders. They better do more than just consider.

Note to the Management of CMA CGM -
Wake up! If you don't cancel the ship orders, start cutting costs like crazy, you will be filing for bankruptcy reorganization.

From the Journal of Commerce

Carrier unable to meet payments on $5 billion debt

CMA CGM reached agreement to establish a committee of French, European and international banks that will help it restructure its troubled balance sheet, the company said Tuesday.

The French carrier, the world’s third-largest container line by capacity, met with its creditors in Paris on Sept. 25 to ask for a moratorium on its debt. The group of banks, which includes major financial institutions from Asia and the Republic of Korea, discussed measures that CMA CGM said will ensure its “continuing development.”

The shipping line, which is owned by Jacques Saade and his family, said the bank committee will propose measures to resolve the carrier’s short and medium term financing requirements and strengthen its capital structure.
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The French carrier has 60 large new container ships on order that are scheduled for delivery through 2012 and accumulated a debt of $5 billion on which it is no longer able to meet payments, according to the French journalists’ Web site econostrum.info, which said CMA CGM is asking its creditors to freeze the repayments for one year.

As part of an effort to conserve cash, CMA CGM said it will continue to try to renegotiate and in some cases cancel “certain ship deliveries.”

CMA CGM has a fleet of 91 owned and 272 chartered ships with a combined capacity of 1,024 million 20-foot equivalent units.

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