CMA CGM has built a family of regional carriers over the past 10 years to complement its main east-west service. These carriers include Delmas to west Africa, ANL in Australasia, Cheng Lie in intra-Asia, and MacAndrews linking the Baltic, northwest Europe, and Iberia. The acquisition of OPDR was not made to fill an obvious void, although CMA CGM's CEO Farid Salem says the move is part of a strategy to broaden the regional network. It is more likely that Jacques Saade took advantage of an opportunity presented by old contacts at Bernhard Schulte. Rumours in Hamburg suggested that Bernard Schulte no longer saw its European shortsea intermodal specialist as core and Saade, wisely, was not prepared to see OPDR snapped up by a competitor.
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