Europe Billionaires Are in High Seas ‘Arms Race’

A shopping spree by two billionaires is shaking up a shipping industry still recovering from years of falling rates and overcapacity. Jacques Saade’s CMA CGM SA, the world’s third-largest container line, announced an order for nine massive vessels in September, after a year of tepid sales for new ships. Within days, Gianluigi Aponte’s Mediterranean Shipping Co., the No. 2 container line, confirmed it had lobbed in an order for 11 behemoths, each of which can hold 22,000 shipping containers, enough capacity for 44,000 cars or 8.8 million 50-inch TVs.

Comments are closed.