2023-06-01 06:15:21
The powerful French shipowner has since yesterday owned 100% of La Méridionale. He wants to make the company “his green corridor” in the Mediterranean, and also confirms that it will continue to serve Corsica.
The CMA CGM group made it official yesterday in a press release. After several months of negotiations, the company La Méridionale now belongs to him. The world number 3 in container shipping bought it from the Stef group, for an amount that has not been made public.
The Southern, which employs more than 600 people, including 490 sailors, and has a fleet of 4 ships, which provide connections between Marseille, Porto-Vecchio and Ajaccio, but also crossings between Marseille and Morocco. It is awarded, with Corsica Linea, the Public Service Delegation 2023-2029.
Last February, CMA CGM announced that this acquisition was intended to “continue its development on the Mediterranean, while strengthening the position of the port of Marseille and the French maritime sector”, while giving itself the means to “turn around and restore growth prospects for La Méridionale“, who has been facing financial difficulties for three years.
The group, led by Rodolphe Saadé, also wants to make La Méridionale “one of the first green corridors in the Mediterranean”and ensures that he will invest “in the modernization of the company’s fleet to improve its energy efficiency and reduce its environmental impact”.
Two new ships should therefore join the La Méridionale fleet in the next three years, and will replace the oldest ones. These boats, which will serve Corsica, should offer the possibility of connecting to the quay, thus allowing the stopping of the engines, while pollution is a recurring complaint made to the ferries. They would also benefit from propulsion using liquefied natural gas, or biofuel. A choice of development that would confirm the turn taken by La Méridionale with the Piana last summer.
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