CMA CGM does not want to pay more taxes but says it is “ready to help”

The shipowner CMA CGM, which pays few taxes while its net profit reached 7.2 billion dollars in the first quarter alone, does not want to be subject to a higher contribution so as not to be at a disadvantage compared to its competitors, its CEO said on Wednesday. . “I don’t want to be the only one to pay,” summed up Rodolphe Saadé, the head of the Marseille group, during a Senate hearing.

“We are living through an exceptional period where demand has been exceptional”, at a level “never known”, after the Covid-19 crisis, he said. “The market has shot up,” she added, noting that shipping, a cyclical activity par excellence, follows the law of supply and demand. “We come with a series of measures to try to help” French customers, with price freezes, discounts for SMEs and discounts starting August 1, she listed. “We are ready to help.”

“Today, I am the only shipping company that does what I do. My competitors, nobody has moved. So I hear people say that the rates are very high, but you have to look at what my competitors are doing,” Rodolphe said. . saade. “You will tell me ‘it is not enough’, I made proposals. It is up to the government to decide what it wants to do.” “I consider that my duty is to continue investing, create jobs, continue to be profitable,” he stressed, highlighting his “patriotism” and noting that 90% of profits are reinvested in the company.

“Where were you?”

CMA CGM is like its competitors subject to the “tonnage tax” -a tax on the size of the fleet, applied by many countries- for maritime transport and the corporate tax for ports and logistics, explained the executive president, while the senator Fabien Gay (PCF) was surprised that the group only paid €370m in taxes last year.

“I, the CMA CGM group, a French group, the flagship of shipping in France, do not want to find myself at a disadvantage” in the face of competition – in particular, Denmark’s Maersk and Switzerland’s MSC, he said. while his company could be subject to a possible “excess profits” tax. “We got by” when prices were low and the group was on the verge of bankruptcy. “Where were you?” Rodolphe Saadé asked the senators. The executive noted that freight rates have fallen 40% in recent weeks, forecasting “a soft landing” for shipping after two years of overheating.