The world trade’s contraction has harshly hit the Mediterranean’s leading shipping company CMA-CGM: freight rates have lowered on average by 75% in 2008, while the group has been enlarging the fleet with a significant number of new vessels – 18 in 2009, ordered when the sector was at its peak – thus causing a huge debt estimated at 3.5 billion €, Econostrum.info reported. … A support plan could play a major role on several levers, as CMA-CGM is asking its creditors to freeze the repayments for one year.
