{"id":360528,"date":"2026-02-02T10:48:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T00:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldcargonews.com\/?p=95661"},"modified":"2026-02-02T10:48:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T00:48:49","slug":"french-cgm-cma-makes-uk-freightliner-acquisition-official-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=360528","title":{"rendered":"French CGM CMA makes UK Freightliner acquisition official"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s most established rail freight operators into the French Group\u2019s expanding European logistics portfolio, strengthening its intermodal offer across sea, land and inland transport.<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The transaction reinforces a long-stated ambition by the French shipping line to deepen rail\u2019s 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\u2019s deep-sea ports and inland distribution hubs.<\/p>\n

Rail freight as a strategic pillar for CMA CGM<\/h2>\n

CMA CGM chairman and chief executive Rodolphe Saad\u00e9 framed the acquisition as both symbolic and practical. \u201cWe are pleased to welcome the 1,600 colleagues of Freightliner Group Ltd, the UK\u2019s leading intermodal rail freight operator<\/a>, into the CMA CGM family,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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CMA CGM image of chair and CEO Rodolphe Saad\u00e9<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the new intermodal business, Saad\u00e9 described the deal as \u201can important milestone\u201d for the Group. He said that it would link Freightliner\u2019s integration to CMA CGM\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Freightliner has strong foundations<\/h2>\n

While CMA CGM is well known to the WorldCargoNews family, Freightliner UK is less familiar outside Britain. The company is the UK\u2019s largest intermodal rail freight operator, even after the spin-off from the bulk materials business. Freightliner moves containers from all major deep-sea ports.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

Investment, growth and decarbonisation ambitions<\/h2>\n

Saad\u00e9 made clear that Freightliner\u2019s role extends beyond capacity alone. \u201cBy integrating Freightliner, rail becomes a stronger pillar of our model,\u201d he said. He cited better port-to-hinterland connections, greater supply chain reliability and \u201cmore efficient, lower-carbon transport solutions for our customers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Freightliner has continued to invest in recent years. Within the last twelve months, it ordered 150 new intermodal wagons<\/a>, underwritten by rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook, reinforcing its position as the UK\u2019s leading intermodal rail operator. CMA CGM sees this capability as a key lever in accelerating modal shift from road to rail.<\/p>\n

UK a long-term market for CMA CGM<\/h2>\n

\u201cThe United Kingdom has been a strategic market for CMA CGM for more than 35 years,\u201d Saad\u00e9 said, positioning the acquisition as a long-term commitment rather than an opportunistic expansion. He added that the deal \u201cpositions the Group as a long-term player in rail freight\u201d, with a clear ambition to invest and grow.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s global shipping and logistics reach. For both companies, the emphasis is on scale, integration and decarbonised growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,19294,12629,12337,1931,7541,7932,1732,471,12153,1433,19155,85],"tags":[12159],"class_list":["post-360528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-cgm-cma","category-container","category-finance-financial-results","category-freightliner","category-freightliner-uk","category-logistics","category-multimodal","category-news","category-operations-transport","category-rail","category-transport-distribution","category-uk","tag-world-cargo-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=360528"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":360931,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360528\/revisions\/360931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=360528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=360528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=360528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}