CMA CGM has invested in the New York Shipping Exchange (NYSHEX), a digital marketplace for sea freight. CMA CGM Ventures contributed to the cumulative investment of $13m with other partners being Hapag Lloyd, GE Ventures and Goldman Sachs. Dedicated to investments in innovative technologies, CMA CGM created CMA CGM Ventures aiding its digital transformation.
The investment continues the digital transformation of the company after it was made one of the CMA CGM’s four key priorities, in 2013, through the launch of an e-commerce platform. Currently, 80% of bookings are made online including those made through its mobile app which was launched in May 2017.
This follows after CMA CGM became the first container line to be listed on the Freightos booking platform, earlier in December, allowing direct sales, booking and shipment management. As part of the pilot phase, it will be able to offer booking, guaranteed pricing and secured capacity via the IT platform, initially for China-US trade lanes. This continues the Group’s digitization strategy which is based on internal projects as well as on commercial or capital partnerships via its corporate venture structure.
Rodolphe Saadé, CEO, commented on the investment, “Digitization is essential to offer our customers new and differentiated products. This partnership is an additional step in the digital transformation of CMA CGM, aimed at continuously creating value for its customers.”
Source: CMA CGM