Delmas (shipping company)

DELMAS

Industry	Transport
Founded	1867
Products	Shipping Cargo Freight distribution
Revenue	Euro 850 million (2004 turnover)[1] $1.24 billion (2004 turnover)[2] £632 million (2004 turnover)[2]
Employees	727 (2006)
Website	http://www.delmas.com/

Delmas Shipping, based in Le Havre, France, is a containerized-freight and ro-ro shipping company, mainly carrying trade between western Europe and Africa. It is the largest cargo carrier between European and African ports, and Europe's oldest extant shipping line.^{[citation needed]}

The company operates a fleet of 49 vessels with a collective capacity of 63,000 Twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU),^[3] on 15 routes between Europe, Africa and the Indian Ocean. It is part of the CMA CGM group of transportation firms, having been acquired from the Bolloré Group for €470 million in 2005.

A Delmas container ship unloading at the Zanzibar port in Tanzania

History

Delmas Freres was founded in 1867 to transport coal and raw materials from the French port of La Rochelle. In 1910 the company was renamed Delmas Vieljeaux after its president, joint owner and Mayor of La Rochelle, Leonce Vieljeux.^[4]

The first Delmas shipyard opened in 1922 and international shipping began in 1925 with imports of mahogany from the African state of Gabon for use in boxes for storage of butter and cheese.^[4] After World War II the company relocated to Le Havre and began to specialise in Africa-European trade. It was acquired by the Bolloré Group in a hostile takeover in 1996, but a series of restructures led to a loss of market share and the sacking of 140 staff.^[5]

In September 2005 the company was sold to CMA CGM for €470 million. The sale was supported by the Delmas workforce after CMA CGM agreed to a package including no forced redundancies and the retention of the Le Havre offices and Delmas branding.^[6]

In February 2010, Delmas was put in the spotlight for its involvement in the shipment of illegally logged rainforest wood from Madagascar.^[7]

External links

• Delmas official website

References

1. ^ "About Delmas: Key figures". DELMAS. 2004. http://www.delmas.com/UK/html/accueil/cadre.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-04. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Currency Conversion
3. ^ "Delmas". CMA CGm Group, Marseille. 2006. http://www.cma-cgm.com/AboutUs/Subsidiaries/ContainerShipping/Delmas.aspx. Retrieved 2008-02-15. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Delmas Shipping Company (France)". Flags of the World. July 2004. http://www.crwflags.com/FOTW/flags/fr~hfdel.html. Retrieved 2008-02-15. 
5. ^ "CMA CGM Delmas bid gets Standard & Poor’s approval". Ministry of Investment, Industry, Technology and Information, Government of Malta. September 2005. http://www.miti.gov.mt/site/page.aspx?pageid=1061. Retrieved 2008-02-15. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ "CMA-CGM/Delmas Deal to Be Closed". Maritime Digital Archive. September 2005. http://www.ibiblio.org/maritime/Scheepvaartnieuws/Pdf/scheepvaartnieuws/2005/september/202-06-09-2005a.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-15. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ "French company prepares to ship illegally logged rainforest wood from Madagascar". wildmadagascar.org. February 2010. http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0225-madagascar_delmas.html. Retrieved 2010-02-26.