French shipping giant CMA CGM has reached out a helping hand to its compatriot ferry operator, Brittany Ferries, and advance the latter’s freight business. CMA CGM said on Tuesday that it will make a €25 million investment in Brittany Ferries, including a €10 million in quasi-equity to help itrecover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

CMA CGM is looking to leverage Brittany Ferries’ established passenger lines to the UK, Ireland and the Iberian peninsula and use the available cargo space on its vessels for freight. In return Brittany Ferries will advance its freight business.

By harnessing the respective areas of expertise of the CMA CGM Group and Brittany Ferries, it will also help promote the development of cross-Channel shipping and underpin France’s position in the sector. Under this agreement, a representative of the CMA CGM Group will join Brittany Ferries’ Supervisory Board, CMA CGM’s statement reads.

Commercial freight partnership

The transportation of goods aboard Brittany Ferries’ roll-on roll-off (roro) ships will help expand the CMA CGM group’s offering in the roro sector for the Atlantic and northern coast of France to destinations in the United Kingdom.

The partnership with CMA CGM will also help Brittany Ferries to adapt more easily to the post-Covid-19 trends in goods transportation, including the transport of unaccompanied trailers, and to offer new transport services so it can better meet the needs of its customers.

Through this agreement, both groups will be able to introduce new roro services, according to the statement.

LNG as fuel and multimodal expansion

CMA CGM and Brittany Ferries, both of which are committed to developing liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power their ships, will be looking at ways of sharing their LNG knowledge and resources in areas such as training for French crews and safety procedures.

Both companies have also undertaken to introduce more environmentally-friendly shipping and logistics solutions.

Two new LNG-powered ships are due to join Brittany Ferries’ fleet next year and in 2023. The new Ro-pax vessels, to be named Salamanca and Santoña, will operate services between the United Kingdom and Spain.

In addition, Brittany Ferries is about to introduce a new rail freight service to expand its multimodal offering. By year-end 2022 the company will offer its customers an unaccompanied trailer transport service on the Atlantic coast rail network between Bayonne and Cherbourg.