One Ocean Summit: the CMA CGM Group decides it will no longer carry plastic waste on its ships

In a landmark decision in the shipping industry taken at the recently concluded One Ocean Summit organized by Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, Rodolphe Saadé, the Chairman and CEO of the CMA CGM Group, announced in a speech that the Group would no longer be transporting any plastic waste aboard its ships.

With this decision effective June 1, 2022, the CMA CGM Group, which is a leading global player in shipping and logistics, continues to demonstrate its commitment to protecting the environment and conserving biodiversity. In his address, Rodolphe Saadé also announced that the Group will host one of the two sites of the French Institute for Decarbonation at Tangram, the Group's major innovation and training center due to open in Marseille in 2023.

A press release from the company cites, that removing plastic waste is a major priority for our oceans and for conserving biodiversity. Every year, around 10 million tons of plastic waste end up in the sea. Unless action is taken, that figure is set to triple over the next 20 years to reach 29 million tons per year, which will cause irreversible damage to marine ecosystems, fauna, and flora. The causes of this pollution include open-air storage and the absence of processing infrastructure for plastic waste that does not actively get recycled or reused.

With the decision that it will no longer transport plastic waste onboard its ships, CMA CGM will prevent this type of waste from being exported to destinations where sorting, recycling, or recovery cannot be assured. The Group has thus decided to take practical steps where it has the operational capability to do so, heeding the urgent calls made by certain NGOs.

With this decision, the CMA CGM Group is stepping up its efforts to make conserving biodiversity one of the priorities of its CSR policy and to develop a trade that is more responsible and fair for everyone and for the planet.