CMA CGM has formally completed the acquisition of Freightliner UK Intermodal Logistics, making the deal a legal reality in the early hours of Friday morning (30 January). The move brings one of Britain’s most established rail freight operators into the French Group’s expanding European logistics portfolio, strengthening its intermodal offer across sea, land and inland transport.
The transaction reinforces a long-stated ambition by the French shipping line to deepen rail’s role within its end-to-end logistics model. For the UK market, it marks a significant change in ownership, and possibly direction, for a company that underpins container flows between the country’s deep-sea ports and inland distribution hubs.
Rail freight as a strategic pillar for CMA CGM
CMA CGM chairman and chief executive Rodolphe Saadé framed the acquisition as both symbolic and practical. “We are pleased to welcome the 1,600 colleagues of Freightliner Group Ltd, the UK’s leading intermodal rail freight operator, into the CMA CGM family,” he said, signalling continuity for the workforce and the brand. The workforce represents roughly two-thirds of the former company. The remaining 950 have transitioned into a new entity, named Heavy Haul Rail, concentrating on the bulk materials business.
For the new intermodal business, Saadé described the deal as “an important milestone” for the Group. He said that it would link Freightliner’s integration to CMA CGM’s wider strategy of strengthening logistics capabilities across the value chain. Rail, he said, would sit alongside shipping, terminals and logistics as a core component of that model.
Freightliner has strong foundations
While CMA CGM is well known to the WorldCargoNews family, Freightliner UK is less familiar outside Britain. The company is the UK’s largest intermodal rail freight operator, even after the spin-off from the bulk materials business. Freightliner moves containers from all major deep-sea ports.
Freightliner operate trains across a nationwide network of inland terminals, both owned and open access. In addition to a large fleet of diesel units, mainly the ubiquitous EMD-built Class 66, Freightliner also owns a fleet of electric locomotives, repurposed from front-line passenger express services. They are used mainly on their fast intermodal services on the busy mixed traffic West Coast Main Line route.
Investment, growth and decarbonisation ambitions
Saadé made clear that Freightliner’s role extends beyond capacity alone. “By integrating Freightliner, rail becomes a stronger pillar of our model,” he said. He cited better port-to-hinterland connections, greater supply chain reliability and “more efficient, lower-carbon transport solutions for our customers”.
Freightliner has continued to invest in recent years. Within the last twelve months, it ordered 150 new intermodal wagons, underwritten by rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook, reinforcing its position as the UK’s leading intermodal rail operator. CMA CGM sees this capability as a key lever in accelerating modal shift from road to rail.
UK a long-term market for CMA CGM
“The United Kingdom has been a strategic market for CMA CGM for more than 35 years,” Saadé said, positioning the acquisition as a long-term commitment rather than an opportunistic expansion. He added that the deal “positions the Group as a long-term player in rail freight”, with a clear ambition to invest and grow.
Freightliner will continue to operate as a standalone, multi-user, multi-customer business within the Group. CMA CGM says existing management teams will retain operational autonomy, while benefiting from the Group’s global shipping and logistics reach. For both companies, the emphasis is on scale, integration and decarbonised growth.