Paul Berger of The Wall Street Journal reports that CMA CGM CEO Rodolphe Saadé pledged a $20 billion investment in the U.S. over the next four years during a meeting with President Trump. The investment will expand the company’s U.S.-flagged fleet, upgrade port facilities, and create a Chicago airfreight hub, generating 10,000 jobs. Berger writes:
French shipping magnate Rodolphe Saadé met President Trump at the White House on Thursday and pledged to invest $20 billion in the U.S. over the next four years as the administration pushes to revive the American maritime sector.
Saadé, the billionaire chairman and chief executive of Marseille’s CMA CGM, intends to triple the size of the container line’s U.S.-flagged fleet, upgrade its U.S. port facilities and create a Chicago airfreight hub, among other moves.
The investments will create 10,000 direct new jobs, Saadé said in an interview, adding most of the announced investment is new money that is being found or reallocated from other areas. It includes $8 billion for containerships, $7 billion for logistics, $4 billion for ports and $1 billion for air cargo, he said.
“We’re talking about a massive investment of a shipping company and a logistics provider in a given country,” Saadé said. “$20 billion over four years is very strong as a commitment to the U.S.” […]
Saadé said the U.S. accounts for a quarter of CMA CGM’s total revenue. The world’s third-largest carrier by capacity, earned $5.71 billion in net profit in 2024 on revenue of $55.5 billion. […]
The company and its logistics subsidiaries employ about 15,000 U.S. workers.
Saadé said the company plans to double and modernize its network of about 200 U.S. warehouses and to open a research-and-development hub in the Boston area. He said the new Chicago air hub would be served by five Boeing 777 freighters carrying cargo between the U.S. and Asia.
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