Ocean container and logistics provider CMA CGM today raised $2.4 billion to accelerate investments in its maritime port terminals, which span 10 global properties including the U.S. facilities Los Angeles Fenix Marine Services and Port Liberty terminals in New York and Bayonne.

CMA CGM raised the money by creating a joint venture with the New York-based infrastructure investment firm Stonepeak to manage those properties, and selling a 25% minority stake in the business to Stonepeak itself.

CMA CGM will retain full operational control of the joint venture, called United Ports LLC. The company said it plans to reinvest the money in the continued growth of core businesses, while expanding supply chain capacity to meet the ever-growing demand for state-of-the-art shipping and logistics solutions across sea, land, air and logistics.

The French container company had acquired the New York and New Jersey terminals in 2023 and announced a $600 million upgrade plan to expand their capacity and allow larger ships to dock there.

The full United Ports portfolio currently includes 10 assets: Los Angeles Fenix Marine Services (United States), Port Liberty terminals in New York and Bayonne (United States), Santos terminals (Brazil), CSP Valencia and CSP Bilbao (Spain), Terminal Maritima del Guadalquivir (Spain), TTI Algeciras (Spain), Nhava Sheva Freeport Terminal (India), CMA CGM Kaohsiung Terminal (Taiwan), and Gemalink in Cai Mep (Vietnam).

However, it could grow larger since the joint venture may raise additional funds to acquire new terminal projects in the U.S. and globally, CMA CGM said. As part of the transaction, Stonepeak will have the opportunity to contribute an additional $3.6 billion in funding for future joint terminal projects.

“Container terminals play an essential role in global trade and are among the most difficult to substitute or replicate transportation infrastructure assets,” said James Wyper, Senior Managing Director, Head of U.S. Private Equity, and Head of Transportation & Logistics at Stonepeak. “This joint venture represents a truly differentiated opportunity to invest in a high-quality portfolio of strategically located terminals alongside one of the largest and most respected shipping and logistics groups in the world. We look forward to working closely with CMA CGM’s expert team to support this critical infrastructure.”

French global logistics provider CMA CGM has taken delivery of its 400th owned vessel, the CMA CGM MONTE CRISTO, marking the first in a series of six methanol-fueled container ships and advancing the company’s decarbonization strategy.

With a carrying capacity of 15,000 twenty foot-equivalent units (TEUs), the 366-meter long ship will enter commercial service on 29 January 2026 in Ningbo, on the BEX2 – Phoenician Express service, connecting North Asia with the Levant and the Adriatic Sea.

By adding the CMA CGM MONTE CRISTO, the company reaches a milestone of 400 owned vessels, within a total fleet of more than 650 vessels worldwide. The boat becomes the 11th methanol container ship in the CMA CGM fleet, out of a total of 24 such vessels on order. Together, they are part of the company’s stated plan to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2050.

In addition to its own fleet of vessels, CMA CGM is now marking 10 years as part of OCEAN Alliance, which it calls the world’s largest maritime network for the future of global trade. Recently extended until at least 2032, OCEAN Alliance operates 41 service routes by supporting a network of ships operated by its partner firms, the CMA CGM Group, COSCO Shipping, Evergreen and OOCL. Together, they deploy 394 container ships—including 130 CMA CGM vessels—hauling a total capacity of 5.3 million TEUs.

Following news that CMA CGM Group would reroute its container ships out of the war-torn Red Sea route and return to a much longer path around the southern tip of Africa, analysts warned that the lingering unpredictability of changing supply chain patterns could echo through global freight markets.

“Shippers crave predictability in supply chains,” Destine Ozuygur, Senior Market Analyst at Xeneta, said in a release. “Carriers taking the decision to return to the Red Sea then reversing that decision—even if it is done for important safety reasons—still risks undermining confidence in schedule reliability and eroding trust in partnerships.”

Ocean container lines hauling freight between Asia and the North American east coast had previously abandoned the shortcut through the Red Sea and Suez Canal in 2023 after rising violence by militia members targeting western ships, meant to protest Israel’s handling of its war against Hamas militants in Palestine. A shaky ceasefire agreement in 2025 has done little to sooth those fears.

Instead, ships from the major container lines avoided the threat of missile attacks by sailing a longer route around the Cape of Good Hope, trading safer waters for the costs of extra transit time and added fuel costs.

In recent days, CMA CGM had finally returned to the Red Sea route, but today announced it would return again to the longer path. “In light of the complex and uncertain international context, the CMA CGM Group [is] constantly and closely monitoring all potential impacts on its operations. As a result, the CMA CGM Group has decided for time being to reroute vessels deployed on our FAL 1, FAL 3 and MEX services via the Cape of Good Hope,” the company said in a release.

That decision adds about a week to the trip, Xeneta said. According to the firm, full loop transit times on the FAL1 service—which connects China and Singapore to six European ports including two dedicated calls to Southampton—decreased from 105 days to 98 when ships began transiting Suez Canal again. And transit time from Port Qasim in Karachi to New York on CMA CGM’s INDAMEX route fell from 40 days to 36 days after returning to the Suez Canal.

According to Xeneta, shippers can adjust to that extended sailing time if they know it’s coming, but they struggle to cope with changing schedules. “Unpredictability is toxic for supply chains,” Ozuygur said. “Shippers want certainty over when containers arrive at port, even if that means longer transit times around Cape of Good Hope. Ironically, CMA CGM’s decision to play it safe and return services via Cape of Good Hope may lead shippers to perceive them as the riskier choice against their peers.”