French shipping giant CMA CGM officially completed the acquisition of UK rail freight operator Freightliner to boost its intermodal services. CMA CGM will take over 2,000 wagons, 10 terminals and “one of the largest fleets of electric locomotives in the UK”.
What used to be Freightliner’s bulk services will be picked up by a newly established company: Heavy Haul Rail. Its fleet will consist of 95 locomotives and over 1,000 wagons, running 250 trains per week across 100 locations in the UK. Freightliner’s international branches in Poland, Germany and the Netherlands will also remain under the current ownership and will not be transferred to CMA CGM.
Vertical integration
Big companies, especially the largest shipping lines, have been increasingly looking into vertical integration and taking control of the whole supply chain. CMA CGM, for example, also acquired CEVA Logistics in 2019, Bolloré Logistics in 2024 and a 20% stake in the EUROGATE terminal in Hamburg a couple months ago, establishing a strong position in the intermodal sector.
Another shipping giant taking over the market is MSC. The Swiss-based company has tentacles all over the supply chain industry, especially through its subsidiaries Medlog and Medway. The most important recent developments concern a wagon factory in Trieste, the launch of a Portugal-Spain rail highway service for semi-trailers and the expansion in the French and Austrian markets.